ROLE OF MUNICIPAL PREFECTS AND MAJORS IN THE LOCAL ECONOMIC AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Local economic development implies maintained and premeditated process in which, beside local authorities, participate other actors, in order to create better conditions for the economic development and growth, and to improve life quality of population within local communities. Due to their constitutional and legal position local self-governments are an important segment of political system and an important subject of social development. In the local self-government system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, municipal prefects and mayors as the representatives of an executive authority functions are important institutions of the local selfgovernment. Significance of their role in the local economic and infrastructural development is observable not only because of their executive function but also in their role to recommend development policy to the municipal council/city council related to all issues within the localself-government jurisdiction. Municipal prefects and mayors create and report economic and development plans to the municipal/city council, they create and report various investment programmes, environmental and urban development strategies and other plans and strategies together with regulatory acts. Units of municipal self-government, besides delivering basic services, do have obligation to create an environment for expansion of local economic capacities and ensure long and sustainable development. Countries in transitional process such as Bosnia and Herzegovina require time in order to change local business and economic circumstances, to create participative competences and capacitate local actors for the participation in this particular process. On that path, taking into the consideration legal and structural authorities of executive political function of local self-government, it is possible to emphasize that solution of local economic development in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in hands of municipal prefects and mayors. * PhD, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo, Skenderija 72, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, phone: +387 33 203 562, e-mail address: sadikovice@fpn. unsa.ba ** MSc, Mayor of the Municipality Domaljevac, Posavskih branitelja 148, 76233 Domaljevac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, phone: +397 31 716 600, fax: +387 31 716 604, e-mail address: domaljevac@net.hr