The Task Force for the Coordination of the Migrant Crisis Management and Control in the Una-Sana Canton (USC) began preparing the Lipa site for the placement of all migrants from the center of Bihac, Fena news agency reports.
“I received the support of the Task Force for establishing the Lipa camp outside the center of Bihac, which is in line with the City Council’s conclusion. Given that we currently have more than 1,500 migrants in abandoned facilities and city streets, we will first move them to a new location,” mayor of Bihac Suhret Fazlic said.
He continued by saying that immediately after that, they will also move towards relocating people from Bira and closing this temporary center. He hopes that we will have the support of the European Commission and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as well as the competent institutions of BiH.
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.
