In Pancevo, the foundation stone has been laid for a 20-apartment building, funded by EU Delegation to Serbia and aimed at refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). A ceremony marking the beginning of construction works was participated in by Head of the EU Delegation Michael Davenport, representative of Danish Refugee Council Marina Cremonese and Mayor of Pancevo Pavle Radanov.
“I would like to thank future tenants for being patient because they have waited for far too long for a proper housing solution. It looks as if the next year would bring a durable solution, and I think we will not be pleased until you are able to move into your own apartments,” Davenport said.
“The remaining families will be accommodated in rural households purchased with EU funds, as well as in five prefabricated houses, constructed at the request of people from the collective centre,” Davenport said.
20-apartment building, whose construction works are worth roughly 450,000 euros, will be furnished and equipped with appliances; refugees will accommodate 16, while four apartments will be accommodated by socially disadvantaged families from Pancevo.
“This is success for all of us in the collective centre: to finally settle down, with everyone having their own apartment, peace and freedom,” Dobrivoje Djordjevic, a refugee from Suva Reka, said.
According to Mayor of Pancevo, “once the building is fully constructed in 2015, we will be able to close the last refugee collective centre in Vojvodina down.”
“The remaining tenants of the collective centre will be given rural and prefabricated houses, purchased with EU funds. Afterwards, we will do our utmost to find these people jobs,” Radanov said.
The City of Pancevo donated the building plot along with necessary infrastructure, urban planning and technical documentation, and will contribute to the project financially in certain phases. This particular project component and closing down of collective centre receive financial support from Fund for Aid to Refugees, Expelled and Displaced Persons of Vojvodina, as well as Foundation Ana & Vlade Divac.
We hope that by giving keys to their new homes, refugees would also be given keys to a brighter future, said representative of Danish Refugee Council Marina Cremonese.
The building, located in Pancevo’s Streliste neighbourhood, should be completed by the end of August 2015.
The project is part of a wider EU programme aimed at improving the living conditions of forced migrants, “For a Better Life,” worth 14.2 million euros.
Ambassador Davenport, along with the Mayor of Pancevo, visited the oldest brewery in the Balkans, built in 1722 by the Weifert family.
Pancevo has serious plans to turn the building, which kept most of its original design, into a museum of industrialisation, and it will try to get expert assistance within EU funds in order to implement this endeavour.
“I have heard that there are some concrete plans for reconstruction of parts of this great old brewery, we have seen a potential that the building has and I am confident that joint engagement of citizens, local authorities and other partners will result in a successful project,” Davenport told Pancevo television channel.
Ambassador Davenport informed Mayor Radanov about the available EU programmes under which Pancevo could apply for support to carry out the project.
