INAUGURATION OF THE RECONSTRUCTED CENTER OF PRESEVO

21. September 2010.

Minister Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, Sulejman Ugljanin, Minister without Portfolio, and Art Flanagan, Senior Advisor at USAID Serbia, inaugurated yesterday the renovated center of Presevo in which 43 million dinars was invested. The sidewalks were paved, the benches and water-fountains were put up and the water-supply and sewage systems were replaced. Traffic in the city center was reduced; the street leading to the municipal building was turned into a one-way street, while the young got a spot where to hang about with one another.

At a press-conference, Ragmi Mustafa, President of the Municipality of Presevo, said that „this is the first time that the Presevo downtown area has been properly renovated, including the sewage effluent collector, the water-supply system, telecommunications and the paved streets.“

„We are grateful to all those who helped with renovation of Presevo, which includes the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, USAID Serbia MEGA Program and the Serbian government’s Office for Sustainable Development of Underdeveloped Areas“, said Ragmi Mustafa, who handed over the Presevo municipality’s letters of thanks to the investors.

Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, said that „ renovation of the Presevo downtown area is a good model of working together with USAID“, adding that he hoped that they would jointly do similar projects in the future, too. On that occasion, Minister Markovic also said that he expected that other projects, which should improve the life of Presevo residents, would be implemented as well. He reiterated that over the previous year and a half, a great deal had been done on improvement of life in the three southern Serbian municipalities. According to him, serious work is done regarding the solving of issues in the sphere of education, which were identified as the hugest ones, since not all textbooks have been translated into Albanian. „The Serbian government doesn’t ignore problems in that part of the country, but makes an effort to resolve them in the best possible way“, said Minister Markovic, pointing out that the situation regarding the translation of textbooks was changing for the better, that a faculty was opened in Medvedja, that free school equipment was distributed to schoolchildren and that the best students received scholarships.

Sulejman Ugljanin, Minister without Portfolio, who is in charge of development of the least developed municipalities in Serbia, voiced hope that the Office for Sustainable Development of Underdeveloped Areas would, next year, be allocated a budget that is larger than 150 million dinars, which was the one in 2010. „Should the budget be higher, we’ll be able to fund a few more projects that we have identified, through financing the preparation of the project documentation“, Minister Ugljanin said.

Art Flanagan, Senior Advisor to Director of the USAID’s Mission to Serbia, said that „the idea of renovating the Presevo city center was clear“, adding that he hoped that it would contribute to carrying out more stable and improved business operations“.

Following the press-conference, Mr. Markovic, Mr. Mustafa, Mr. Ugljanin and Mr. Flanagan planted two threes in the renovated center of Presevo.