Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr Renzo Daviddi, and Head of Cooperation with the EU Delegation to BiH Melvin Asin, together with Swedish Ambassador Fredrik Schiller, Croatian Ambassador Ivan Del Vecchio, Dutch Ambassador Jurriaan Kraak, Slovenian Ambassador Iztok Grmek, Deputy Head of Mission Romania Dorin Popescu, Deputy/Charge d’Affairs of the Czech Republic Klara von Kriegsheim Kadlecova, and Second Secretary at the Embassy of Sweden Karin Lissola, visited Orašje and Odžak yesterday.
The focus of the visit were locations which suffered damages during the catastrophic floods in May this year and which were rehabilitated within the EU Floods Recovery Programme financed by the European Union.
In the Orašje Municipality, the Delegation visited two houses in the village Vidovice, which have been rehabilitated under the EU Floods Recovery Programme. So far, 25 houses have been completed under the Programme and 48 are in the process of rehabilitation in Orašje, while the total number of houses planned for rehabilitation in this municipality is 242; amounting to 1,051,727 EUR (2,057,000 BAM).
Other works in the Orašje Municipality include rehabilitation of 5 schools, and recovery grants to 2 small and medium sized enterprises (SME). The projected total overall investment in the Orašje Municipality under the EU Floods Recovery Programme is 1,477,838 EUR (2,890,400 BAM).
“In Orašje, the floods mostly affected housing and economic facilities, as well as the agricultural sector, with estimated damages in millions of Euros. I am glad that today we visited with our donors two families whose houses were rehabilitated within the EU Floods Recovery Programme. We saw what has been done do far, and talked about options for even more efficient assistance on the ground,” said Mayor of Orašje, Đuro Topić.
The visiting delegation also attended a ceremony for the official handover of three greenhouses, between the Association DEMIRA and the Secondary Vocational School in Orašje and the Secondary School in Odžak. The greenhouses were financed by the EU as part of the project “Support to Mine Action and Socio-Economic Development in BiH”. The greenhouses are part of the ongoing EU support which links mine action projects with creating sustainable livelihoods for the project beneficieries.
At the ceremony, Charge d’Affaires Daviddi said: “Mine action that saves lives continues to be an important priority for the EU. 61 projects worth almost 46 million EUR have been financed by the EU in this sector since 1996 and now we are funding 4 additional projects in value of 4.2 million EUR. In addition to demining, we are now additionally helping communities in mine risk areas to create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and thus improve their socio-economic situation. This holistic approach is helping people on two fronts: improving their personal security through clearance of mines, as well as boosting their household incomes.”
In the Odžak Municipality, the delegation visited the “Vladimira Nazora” Primary School in Prud, which was also rehabilitated under the EU Floods Recovery Programme. The finalised works included electricity refitting, new sanitary system, flooring, joinery replacement, refurbishing of interior walls and thermo facade, as well as refurbishment of heating system in the total value of 40,076 EUR (78,383 BAM), while additional 5,965 EUR (11,667 BAM) was donated by the EU for furniture and other equipment.
“I would like to thank all those who helped in the realisation of this project, as the rehabilitation has enabled our children to return to their school, and to sit again on their school benches after the devastating floods of May,” said Nada Bačić, Director of “Vladimira Nazora” Primary School.
Other EU Floods Recovery Programme activities in the Odžak Municipality comprise the rehabilitation of 6 schools, 2 bridges and 1 road, rehabilitation of 273 houses, as well as enterprise recovery grant to 1 SME, in the overall total amount of 1,453,912 EUR (2,843,605 BAM).
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