Representatives of municipalities Srbac, Gradiška, Prnjavor and Kozarska Dubica officially marked the beginning of a pilot project last weekend at the picnic site “Ljeskov Konak”. The project is called “Eko Region Motajica-Kozara”, which anticipates the development of agriculture, water management, environment and tourism in these four municipalities.
This is a project that will operate under the joint companies “Eko-pro for Europe”, whose headquarters will be in municipality Srbac. The project will last until 2017 and it is planned that during this period there will be quality programs for receiving funds from the EU, and the assessment is that it could attract funds for up to 80 million euros.
“All the money will be directed towards developing an attractive environment from Motajica to Kozara and the emphasis will be on improving agriculture, farming, animal husbandry, horticulture and gardening, or the production of healthy food’’, said the Mayor of Srbac Drag Ćirić.
The initiator for the launch of this important project is an expert from the German company “Moeven” Johan Fon nata Ditei, who will be the head of the Steering Board of the joint companies. He will represent the newly established company abroad and present it to foreign partners.
“I am delighted with these areas that are excellent for the production of ecologically organic food. The new company will work on establishing a drain-waste system so that economic development will not destroy the environment. We expect that we will receive funds from the Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) from Germany and other international organizations’’, said Johan Fon Nata Ditei.
Among the signatories of the agreement on the establishment of joint companies was municipality Gradiška, represented by the Mayor Zoran Latinović. He said that the area from Kozara to Motajica and around the river Sava and Vrbas is rich with natural resources that should be used for development and employment in the northwestern part of the RS, which will border with the EU in around a month.
“Our natural resources are not used enough and I think that this is our chance. Gradiška is the leading producer of fruits in the region, because we have around 2 million trees from which we get 50.000 tons of quality fruits. There is huge potential here for the development of ecologically organic food and employment of a new work force’’, said Latinović.
At the end of the meeting it was concluded that this environmental project has to operate with a profit by 2017, or no later than 4 years to establish quality and continuous production of ecologically organic food for the European market.
(Source: ekapija.com)
