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The Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank, accompanied by the Commissioner for Refugees and Migration and the Mayor of Novi Sad, visited the construction site of 152 apartments for refugees in Futog

Today on March 11, 2021, in Futog, the Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank Rolf Wenzel, accompanied by the Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Vladimir Cucić and the Mayor of Novi Sad Miloš Vučević, visited the location in Futog where 152 housing units are being built for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, who have a residence in the territory of the City of Novi Sad, within Subproject 8, Regional Housing Program in the Republic of Serbia (RHP).

Financial resources for the construction of these apartments were provided in part from the donor fund of the Regional Housing Program, in which the largest donor is the European Union, while the land and supporting infrastructure were provided by the City of Novi Sad. From the Regional Housing Program Fund, managed by the Council of Europe Development Bank, 4.1 million euros were donated for these apartments. The contractor is the consortium "Gradina d.o.o." Belgrade and "Inobačka d.o.o." Novi Sad. The works started in March 2020, and the deadline for the completion of construction is June 16, 2021.

The visit was also attended by Yngve Engstrom, Head of the Sector for Cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia, as well as Dušan Kovačević, Director of the Project Management Unit in the Public Sector d.o.o. Belgrade, implementing partner of the Regional Housing Program in Serbia.

"I am very happy and proud to see all this, I want to express my gratitude to the European Union and all other donors who understood the need to solve the issue of a small ordinary man who is not guilty of anything. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020 we handed over more than 1,000 housing solutions within the Regional Housing Issue ", said Cucić.

The Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank, Rolf Wenzel, said that he was glad to hear that despite the COVID, all the works in this project were done on time, and Mayor Vucevic pointed out that he expected the facilities to be completed by summer and residents to  move in sometime in autumn. Yngve Engstrom pointed out that this is "an important project that helps people get on their feet" and that other projects are being discussed.

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 these four countries. It is implemented with the support of the OSCE and the UNHCR, and is financed primarily from donor funds, namely the European Union, which is also the largest donor, the United States, Germany, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The RHP Fund is managed by the Council of Europe Development Bank.