European Union invests 45m EUR in local infrastructure in Serbia

The Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia, Mlađan Dinkić, announced today (December 16, 2009) that the realization of 55m EUR worth of second programme for development of local infrastructure, financed by European Union, would start at the end of January 2010.

Dinkić said at the presentation of the Municipal Infrastructure Support Programme (MISP) in Belgrade that EU would set aside 45m EUR for realization of projects, while 10m EUR would be provided from the National Investment Plan (NIP).

One of the projects whose realization is in the pipeline is the project for construction of water supply system in the Rasina region, in which 9m EUR will be invested by EU from IPA funds, while Serbia will provide 1.6m EUR from NIP.

- Total of 13m EUR from IPA funds and 4m EUR from NIP will be invested in treatment of wastewater from Big Bačka Canal - said Dinkić.

The Minister estimated that modernization of local self-government was necessary in order for realization of the projects to be faster, and he announced that the public discussion about draft strategy for transformation of public utility companies would start in the first quarter of year 2010.

The Head of the EC's Delegation in Serbia, Vincent Degert, said that total of 14 projects worth 65m EUR had been implemented in Serbia since 2003, within the first part of MISP.