Following the initiative of the authorities of the City of Bihac and due to the need to establish additional accommodation for migrants and refugees, the emergency reception center “Lipa” is ready to accommodate up to 1,000 persons following the finalization of the preparatory and construction works on site.
After the initial funding provided from the budget of the City of Bihac, the European Union and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided financial assistance to establish an isolation camp where the migrants and refugees, who have been previously without medical care, will be accommodated.
“Lipa” is equipped with all necessary infrastructure to provide the beneficiaries with basic humanitarian needs in the form of accommodation, food, hygiene, sanitation and medical care.
In November last year, the City Council of the City of Bihac approved the location of Lipa as the only one owned by the City of Bihac to establish a temporary reception center for migrants, Klix.ba news portal reports.
The settlement should contain 1,106 containers. According to the plan document, Camp Lipa should have 728 migrant housing containers, 252 sanitary containers, 126 administrative containers that will house police, the Red Cross, medical teams, registration area, NGOs and media, and a central kitchen with dining room. There is also space for entertaining, education and recreation.
The future camp would be located on an area of nearly 83,000 square meters.
Containers contain windows, parquet floors and everything that migrants need for a comfortable stay, and the outside is decorated in a variety of colors. A recreation area, walks and rest area with trees and benches are also provided. The kitchen will cover an area of nearly 18 thousand square meters. It is also important to emphasize that men will be separated of from woman and children.
There are already existing roads to this location, but it is necessary to build 4,5 thousand meters of internal roads and to provide water, electricity and sewage.
It is still unknown when construction will begin, but it is known that it should do so as soon as a new migrant wave is expected in the spring. Camp Lipa is located between Bosanski Petrovac and Bihać.
The site could be accepted by the European Commission, given that it is city-owned and remote from populated areas.
The problem could possibly be posed by the Republic of Croatia, given that this village is near the border with that country.
