NEBOJSA ARSIC, PRESIDENT OF THE INTERIM BODY OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF MEDVEDJA: POLITICAL SITUATION IS STABILIZING

Medvedja – „Our efforts are directed towards political and economic stabilization of the municipality, and I think that the first results are visible, " said Nebojsa Arsic, the President of the five-member Interim Body of the Municipality of Medvedja, who is a specialist in internal medicine and a holder of an MA degree in cardiology. 

On what basis do you assess that there is no more animosity, which led to the introduction of interim measures.

The Interim Body is composed of three members of the Serbian Progressive Party (SPP), one of the Group of Citizens “Upper Jablanica” and one of the Albanian Party for Democratic Action (PDA), which is led by Riza Halimi. All decisions are reached by consensus, which is very important. There is no retaliation against members of the former government, and there is also cooperation with individual members of the former government. Simply, there is no more tension.

The activity for including Sijarinska Spa in the group of spas for school excursions is underway, while we are also working on making the spa become a place where congressional meetings will be held. The spa has a key place in our development programs.

While you were in the opposition, there were rumors of frauds over the last decade in Medvedja, as well as those of the disclosure of irregularities.

The task of the members of the Interim Body is primarily to prepare the local elections, to make sure they are implemented in accordance with the law and in a democratic atmosphere, and to do everything to improve the infrastructure and provide better living conditions for the citizens.

You have been in the office for a bit more than a month. What condition was the budget in?

The planned 2015 budget of the Medvedja municipality is 498,925,000 dinars, on the setting of which we had no influence.   Only 149.7 million dinars, or 29.25 percent of it, were realized in the first six months.  The budget isn’t burdened with large debts, so that we use what is available.

The situation regarding the pellet plant, where 60 workers were hired, to which the municipality pays their wages back, is very complicated.

Some analyses are being conducted, but it is quite uncertain how we’ll overcome the problem.

And what is currently being done in the territory of the municipality?

The road infrastructure is maintained, which isn’t easy and simple at all, since this is a mountainous terrain with large indentation, then, street lighting is installed on the edges of the town, retaining walls for the prevention of landslides are built, as well as storm water sewerage. There haven’t been any capital investments for a long time because it’s impossible to have them with such modest budget funds.

The Lebane-Medvedja road is in a disastrous condition.

We turned to the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure with a request for a complete reconstruction of the Lebane-Medvedja highway in the length of 22 kilometers, as well as for the revitalization of the road leading to Mutivode, which would be a capital investment.  We hope we’ll be successful.

What about the promise of having a stable municipality that would be included in the development program of the Republic of Serbia, which you mentioned on the occasion of your appointment?

One reaches capital investments through the government budget and donors, and this doesn’t apply only to Medvedja.  In this regard, we are working intensively on establishing contacts with the ministries of the Serbian government and with donors.

On July 8, I signed a contract with the Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection on the use of funds for the regulation of village roads. Under the contract, the municipality of Medvedja received 7, 000, 000 dinars for the regulation of village roads in the area of ​​61, 800 m2.  The aim is, however, to improve our budget, which we are already working on.

What, for example, are you working on?

On signing the contracts on district roads.

Over the next eight months, the municipality of Medvedja will receive expert support for the preparation of the program budgeting and the five-year capital investment plans, which will be financed by the European Union and the Government of Switzerland through the European Partnership with Municipalities EU PROGRESS program. The objective of the technical support is to significantly improve the process of preparing the budget of the municipality of Medvedja, while the transition to program budgeting is a key step in improving the efficiency and usefulness of public spending.  This method of budgeting, which is used worldwide, will enable the municipality of Medvedja to plan public finances in line with the priorities and for longer periods of time, improve accountability among budget users and enable a more precise assessment of the use of public funds. In addition, the issue of planning and financing the construction of new infrastructure will be resolved, given that the resources are scarce and often insufficient for systematic financing of capital investments.

Source: Jugmedia and Coordination Body