Foundation stone for the construction of 40 apartments for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and  Croatia under the second sub-project of the Regional Housing Project of the Republic of Serbia (RHP) was laid today in Sremska Mitrovica. Construction works will take 11 months, and the work is performed by the Construction Company "Dijagonala".

Sremska Mitrovica is the first of nine municipalities in which this year begins the construction of apartments under the second RHSP sub-project. Ttotal of 200 apartments will be built in Krusevac, Paracin, Vrsac, Prokuplje and Bajina Basta (20 in each), in Sabac and Kikinda (25 in each) in Sid 10 apartments.

In these municipalities refugees will be awarded homes to lease with the possibility of a later purchase at discount prices, while 40 flats in Sremska Mitrovica are intended for social housing in a supportive environment for the most vulnerable refugees, the elderly and single-parent families and those with sick members, without the possibility of purchase.

The second RHP subproject is worth more than 13 million euros. Within it is planned to award a total of 900 housing solutions in four models: buying village houses (250), flat construction (200), construction of prefabricated houses (120) and the allocation of construction material (250 from RHP Fund and 80 from the contribution of the Republic of Serbia) .

Groundbreaking ceremony was attended by numerous senior local officials, representatives of international organizations and ambassadors of donor countries. On behalf of the Serbian state first concrete shovel on the foundation stone was thrown by the First Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and President of the Commission for Coordination of Permanent Refugee Integration of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Ivica Dacic.

"Construction of this building is a continuation of the successful solving the housing problems of refugees through the Regional Housing Program, which has been in progress for several years. This program contributes to the overall stability and is a good example of cooperation in the region, "said Mr. Dacic.
Mr. Vladimir Cucić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, expressed a wish for all of us to be back soon again to witness moving of the RHP beneficiaries into the apartments.

"We will continue to work at the same pace and in the same direction. When I see the progress of construction of 235 apartments for refugees in a Belgrade suburb of sheep and go before the deadline, I know that we are on the right track to finally resolve the issue of shelter for the greatest number of families for more than 25 years waiting for this decision, "said Cucić.

Concrete shovel was thrown by Mr. Bojan Stevic, State Secretary in the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, H.E. Andrea Orizio, OSCE Ambassador to Serbia, Mr. Dimitrije Pesic on behalf of the UNHCR in Serbia, Mr. Kent Healy from the United States Embassy, Mr. Goran Kvrgić, Director of the PIU "Research and development", Mr. Vladimir Sanader, Mayor of Sremska Mitrovica and Mr. Vladimir Cucić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia.

Regional Housing Program is a joint multi-annual program of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia, which aims to provide permanent housing solutions for some 27,000 most vulnerable refugee families, or about 74,000 people in the region. Of that number, 16,780 families are in Serbia, ie around 45,000 people.

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