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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

€55m from EU, NIP funds for local infrastructure projects

Belgrade, 16 December 2009

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic today announced the beginning of the project, to start at the end of January, to improve local infrastructure,, financed by €55 million from EU and National Investment Plan (NIP) funds.

At the conference “Six Years of EU Investment in Serbian Infrastructure” Dinkic stressed that through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Programme (MISP), financed by the EU, a total of €45 million will be invested in project realisation, while €10 million will be secured from NIP funds.

He specified that €9 million from EU funds and €1.6 million from NIP funds will be set aside for a water supply project in the Rasina District, €13 million from EU and €4 million from NIP funds for the Great Backa Canal, while Sremska Mitrovica will receive €6.6 million from EU funds.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that if Serbia wants to make progress in its EU integration, it should make use of both EU funds and experience, adding that €200 million from IPA pre-accession funds are at Serbia’s disposal every year.

At the moment, two components from IPA funds are available to Serbia, Dinkic said, adding that once Serbia becomes an EU candidate, it will be able to use three more components.

He stressed that the relevant ministry has completed the draft strategy on the transformation of local public utility companies, which will be available for public debate in the first quarter of 2010.

Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic stressed that further reforms of local self-governments and decentralisation of Serbia are necessary, noting that the process will be much easier with the help of the EU.

Head of the European Commission delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert stressed that support from EU funds is at the disposal of all Serbian municipalities, but noted that they must submit high quality projects to receive funding.