The foundation stone was laid today for the construction of 169 apartments for refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, residing in the territory of the Municipality of Stara Pazova, within the fifth subproject of the Regional Housing Programme in the Republic of Serbia (RHP).

The funds for the construction of the apartments were provided partly from the Donor Fund of the Regional Housing Programme, managed by the Bank for Development of the Council of Europe, and partly from the budget of the Municipality of Stara Pazova. RHP fund donated 3.9 million euros, while the contribution of Stara Pazova is over 55 million dinars. Construction of apartments commences at Fruškogorska Street bb. Contractor is "Zlatibor gradnja Beograd" AD and "Kej" d.o.o. Valjevo. The deadline for the completion of construction is July 2019. Seven lamellas are built, total gross surface is 11.654 m2.

Subproject 5 is worth 52 million euros. The approved international donations amount to 38.8 million euros, and the Republic of Serbia’s contribution is 13.2 million euros.

The event was attended by Ivica Dacic, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Commission for Coordination of the Process of Permanent Refugee Integration, Vladimiri Cucic, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, H.E. Sem Fabrizi, Head of Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Kyle R. Scott, Ambassador of the USA in Serbia, H.Е. Dorothea Gieselmann, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. German Embassy, Anil Kajalar
Deputy Head of Mission of the Turkih Embassy, Igor Vencel,  Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Embassy of Slovakia, Djordje Radinovic, President of the Stara Pazova Municipality, Bojan Stevic, State Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration and Local-Self Government, Andrei Kazakov, Acting Representative of the UNHCR in Serbia, Joseph Mellott , Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Dragan Katuca, director of PIU and others.

"Construction of housing units in Stara Pazova is one of the stages in the realization of the Regional Housing Programme, the most important regional initiative for resolving long-term displacement as a consequence of the conflict in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the period 1991-1995. The Republic of Serbia is extremely dedicated to completing this program and fully contributes to the implementation of the agreed obligations, as evidenced by our presence here on laying the foundation stone in Stara Pazova, "said First Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic.

The Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, Vladimir Cucic, thanked all the guests, without whom, as he pointed out, we would not be here today. "From now on, the construction workers have a word. May their work be as happy as all those people who are waiting for these apartments, "said Commissioner Cucic.

The Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia, Sem Fabrizi, stressed that today’s laying of the foundation stone represents the beginning of a new life for many families, so this is not just a matter of constructing a building.
US Ambassador Kyle Scott said that the United States is very proud to be a partner in the Regional Housing Programme, which has already provided a roof over the head for more than 3,000 families.