A ceremony was held in Srbobran to mark the delivery and the start of the installation of construction material for the beneficiaries of the Regional Housing Programme.
On this occasion, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that the Programme was operating at full speed across the country, adding that in the last couple of months cornerstones for the construction of apartments for refugees have been laid in Vrsac, Paracin, Prokuplje, Krusevac and Sremska Mitrovica.
The Minister said that the project which is currently being implemented envisaged the purchase of 250 village houses, the construction of 200 apartments and 120 prefabricated houses and the delivery of 249 packages of construction material funded by the Programme and additional 70 packages as a contribution of the Republic of Serbia.
Dacic reminded that five years ago, in April 2012, a donor’s conference was held in Sarajevo when the funding was announced for the implementation of the Programme and added that apart from the Commissariat for Refugees “we should thank our international partners, above all the EU, and bilateral donors who have recognised the importance of the Programme and helped it gain momentum.”
Nicolas Bizel of the EU Delegation to Serbia reminded that “as the biggest donor towards the RHP, the EU is contributing EUR230 out of EUR261 million in order to find sustainable housing solutions for all displaced people who have been waiting for new homes over two decades.”
EUR121 million has so far been committed to the RHP Fund, he said and added that “assuming that the good progress continues, the EU is tentatively planning to programme an additional grant of EUR20 million for Serbia in 2017,” Bizel said.
Bizel greeted the family of Dejan Pavlovic, a refugee from Dalj, Croatia, who was granted construction material to finish the construction of and equip the house where he will be living with his wife Slavica and their three daughters Jovan (12), Dunja (5) and Dejana (3). The family has spent the last nine years in a dilapidated house. Now, thanks to the Programme, they will be able to refurbish the roof, floors, facade and bathroom and thus return to normal living conditions.
