Trbojević: My mission is to restore Velesajam to a decent place

According to the announcements of Milan Trbojevic, a new manager of Zagreb Velesajam, the debts will be completely eliminated in the next five years. The annual debts are about 50 mil HRK. The plan is to bring Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, to set up the Museum of Science, to build the Congress Hall and to ensure investments of about 100 to 200 mil Euros. The whole place is 580 thousand square meters big.

I have never been in this kind of business before but my role is only to coordinate the events well. I am now 60 years old and my mission is to restore Velesajam to a decent state until my retirement. If you look at the financial side, I have to decrease and eliminate the losses. It means we have to improve the present events. There are 24 events in a year. We have to increase the number of events. There has to be a variety of fairs. The new events should be organized and the old events should be brought back – Trbojevic explains. He worked as a head of the Tax Office, as the manager of Zagreb Centrum and the manager of Zagreb Investment (a part of Zagreb Holding). He has been working in Zagreb Holding since 2008.

His office is right next to the “apartment” which was once used by Josip Broz Tito and his wife during their visits. He reveals the details of his plan of restoring the area which stretches over 580 thousand square meters.

- There are some pavilions which simply have to be demolished. They haven’t been maintained for decades. The famous Italian pavilion is important as the work of architecture and is even a part of cultural heritage but is in a very bad condition and it became useless. There is an idea to set up the Museum of Science in it – Trbojevic says. He has been the head of Velesajam since 9^th February.

He adds that the team has been formed with the aim to save this branch of Zagreb Holding. The team leaders are the Mayor Milan Bandic and the head of Holding Ivo Covic. The focus has been put on eastern part of the area which is the most attractive area in the whole country at the moment. The construction of the Congress Hall and the new building of Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra are planned here.

According to Trbojevic, the plan is to invest among 100 and 200 mil Euros into the development of Velesajam which aims to restore its former glory. The investors will be the city of Zagreb and Zagreb Holding but it will be done also with the help of private investors.

- We have high ambitions and I think Holding is the place where they can be achieved. The unity of Holding and the city of Zagreb is a huge financial power. It should only be managed rationally – the successor of Igor Radjenovic said in the end.

- We expected the bigger number of visitors at the Eros event because the main profit comes from ticket sale. It turned out to be a failure. Therefore we still don’t know if the Eros event is organized this year or not. We will decide after careful analysis, Milan Trbojevic said. The future of the area of 180 square meters is still questionable.

One third of the area is so valuable that the other  two thirds could be brought to a very high level. When asked about the employees, he said that no one will be fired. All the employees will be kept at their positions.