An apartment building with 76 housing units for refugees was officially opened within “Settlement and Integration of Refugees Programme – SIRP in Serbia”, in Pancevo on 15 January, 2008. The Deputy PM of the Government of Serbia, Mr. Bozidar Djelic, the Mayor of Pancevo municipality, Mr. Srdjan Mikovic, on behalf of the donor, the Embassy of the Republic of Italy, Mr. Alessandro Merola, the head of the UN HABITAT programme, Mr. Jean-Yves Barcelo, Mr. Lennart Kotsalainen, UNHCR Representative in Serbia, the CRS representatives and others attended the opening ceremony.

 

Out of the overall number of housing units, 61 are for refugees (24 flatlets, 16 studios, 8 one-and-a-half-room flats, 12 two-room flats and 1 two-and-a-half-room flat), while 15 flats are for vulnerable domicile population.

According to the programme manager, the UN HABITAT project is two-dimensional. One dimension is the construction of housing units, while the other one is the provision of support to the state in creating institutional framework for the implementation of social housing ideas for both socially vulnerable persons and other population who need state assistance in resolving housing problems.

 

The project started two years ago in seven towns in Serbia – Pancevo, Nis, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Cacak, Stara Pazova, and Valjevo. The apartment buildings have been completed and the tenants are to move into the buildings soon.