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Handover ceremony of keys to 75 apartments for refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia in Niš

In Niš today, on 2 August 2021, the keys of 75 apartments intended for refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia with residence in the territory of the City of Niš were ceremoniously handed over. The apartments were built within the Regional Housing Program (RHP) in the Republic of Serbia, Subproject 5.

Funds for the construction of apartments were provided from the donor fund of the Regional Housing Program, whose largest donor is the European Union. The value of the construction works is 1,518,000 EUR, and the contractor is the consortium "SZTR Quba invest and Modulor" d.o.o.

The ceremony was attended by Nikola Selaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Commission for Coordination of the Process of Permanent Integration of Refugees, Vladimir Cucić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, Dragana Sotirovski, Mayor of Niš, Gerhard Salzer, Program Manager of the EU Delegation. Serbia, Ružica Banda, representative of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Stefan Almehagen Sandstad, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Serbia, Dušan Kovačević, Director of the Public Sector Project Management Unit d.o.o. and others.

"Life cannot wait, and that is why it is important that, despite various adversities, we continue to implement the Regional Housing Program with full intensity," Commissioner Cucić pointed out, adding that the work will be continued at the same pace.

So far, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration in Niš, with budget and donor funds, has permanently provided housing for 425 refugee families who came here in the 1990s, during the war conflicts in the former SFRY.

The Regional Housing Program is a joint multi-year program of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia, which aims to provide permanent housing solutions for the most vulnerable refugee families in the region. It is implemented with the support of the OSCE, UNHCR and the Council of Europe Development Bank, and is funded by the European Union, which is also the largest donor, but also by the United States, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.