The ceremony of awarding the contracts to the 53 local self-governments representatives for implementation of the 899 housing solutions for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, wich have not yet been taken care permanently, took place today in the Club of the Deputies in Belgrade.

The housing solutions were awarded within the fifth and extension of the fourth sub-project of the Regional Housing Program of the Republic of Serbia (RHP). Thus, for the refugee families will be purchased 567 village houses (11,000 euro each) and delivered 332 packages of building materials for the completion of the houses (9,000 euro each).

On behalf of the Commission for Coordination of the Permanent Integration of refugees of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the meeting was opened by Mr Veljko Odalovic, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. 

Mr Odalovic noted that the RHP is part of the larger process to bolster cooperation in the region in order to solve the problem of refugees and overcoming consequences of the past, stressing the importance of that cooperation.

“This Programme is a chance for us to provide permanent housing solutions for most vulnerable part of the refugee population, in which the role of the local self-governments is crucial. Only with your strong engagement, we can bring this process to the successful ending”, said Mr Odalovic.

Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Mr Vladimir Cucic said that within the RHP in the Republic of Serbia we have been simultaneously implementing five sub-projects in 117 local municipalities.

“The implementation is in a full swing. We have already signed, only during this year, the contract for constructing 270 apartments in the Belgrade suburb of Kamendin; in June, we awarded contracts for purchasing of the 69 village houses, and in September we have started construction of the 235 apartments for refugees in the Belgrade suburb of Ovča”, said Commissioner Cucic.

Mr Goran Kvrgic, general manager of the Project Management Unit “Research&Development” doo Belgrade and Mr Željko Ožegović, Secretary of State of the Ministry of State Administration and Local Government, have also addressed the participants.

Awarding ceremony was attended by many guests, including Mr Ramunas Janusauskas on behalf of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, Mr Colleen Smith from the US Embassy, as well as representatives of donor countries, the City of Belgrade, the UNHCR and the OSCE. 

Regional Housing Programme (RSP) is a joint multi-annual program of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Croatian, which aims to provide permanent housing solutions for some 27,000 most vulnerable refugee families, or about 74,000 people in the region. Of this number, 16,780 families are in Serbia, namely about 45,000 people.

Regional Housing Programme of the Republic of Serbia is being implemented with the support of the OSCE and UNHCR, and funded by the European Union, which is the largest donor, the United States, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Program is implemented by the Council of Europe Development Bank.