The ceremonial commencement of construction of 25 apartments for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, residing in the territory of Kikinda, was held today in the City of Kikinda, under the second subproject of the Regional Housing Program in the Republic of Serbia (RHP).

The total value of the construction is 601.988 euros with the funds provided mostly from the Donor Fund of the Regional Housing Program, where European Union is the main donor. The actual construction of apartments started on the location of Pere Segedinca 7 with a symbolic laying of the foundation stone, while the deadline for the completion of the construction is within the next 11 months.

The ceremony was attended by Ivica Dacic, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Commission for Coordination of the Process of Permanent Integration of Refugees, Vladimir Cucic, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, Pavle Markov, Mayor of Kikinda, Joseph Mellott, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission  to Serbia, Andrei Kazakov, Senior Field Coordinator of the UNHCR Representation in Serbia, representatives of the Project Implementation Unit and the beneficiaries.

The entire subproject 2 is worth a total of 13 million euros. Apart from the construction site in Kikinda, several more are opened throughout the seven cities across Serbia (in Sremska Mitrovica, Bajina Bašta, Paracin, Krusevac, Prokuplje, Vrsac and Sabac).The other components of housing solutions are also allocated through this subproject, namely: 120 prefabricated houses, 330 packages of building materials and 250 village houses.

"I am honored to be part of a project that addresses the existential issues and provides a roof over the head to the most vulnerable refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is with the undisguised pleasure that I can inform you that the works on the construction of apartments under the RHP subproject 2 on all locations are very good," said Minister Ivica Dacic.

Commissioner Vladimir Cucic thanked the city of Kikinda for receiving 7,200 refugees in the past, and for actively participating in the implementation of the Regional Housing Program.

"A hundred and five refugee families in Kikinda have been helped through the RHP so far. I will only mention some figures - in addition to these 25 apartments in Pere Segedinca, another 16 apartment units will be built in the neighboring Dusan Vasiljev Street, while14 village houses are already allocated and the contracts are ready for another 13. In addition, 24 families already received the first part of the assistance in building materials and it is expected that the agreements will be signed for 13 more packages for the same number of families ... all this illustrates that what we are doing is worthwhile and well done," emphasized Commissioner Cucic and told the beneficiaries that he is looking forward to seeing them again when their new homes are ready.