DF in Prijedor: The City Assists Returnees

The Deputy Mayor of Prijedor, Žarko Kovačević, and the President of the City Assembly, Mirsad Duratović, spoke today in Prijedor with the Vice President of the FBiH, Milan Dunović, and the Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Zlatan Begić, on the topic of the position and resolution of problems of returnees.

Deputy Mayor Žarko Kovačević emphasized that the City of Prijedor allocated around 500,000 KM last year for resolving the problems of the returnee population in terms of communal and road infrastructure projects, and this will continue next year.

"We expect more funds to come from the federal ministries to the City of Prijedor, and thus we will realize more projects next year," Kovačević told reporters.
The President of the City Assembly of Prijedor, Mirsad Duratović, at whose initiative this delegation from Sarajevo visited, explained that the main topic of discussion was an initiative that has been ongoing for three months.

"This is an initiative of the presidents of municipal and city assemblies from Republika Srpska from the returnee category, and it concerns allocations from the federal budget to support returnees to Republika Srpska," stated Duratović.

He added that it is an initiative to allocate 1-2 percent of the total federal budget annually for the financing and co-financing of returnees to Republika Srpska.

"We received promises that Vice President Dunović will, from his side, support any initiative that will support and help returnees, both to Republika Srpska and also the return of Serbs to the FBiH," said Duratović.

Vice President of the FBiH, Milan Dunović, said that several topics were raised during today's discussion in Prijedor, primarily concerning the returnee population in both Republika Srpska and the FBiH.

"We all know what problems returnees face, and what I could see today is that the City of Prijedor is making great efforts, that the returnee population is being taken care of, and that there are no returnee settlements without electricity or water, which is not a common case in BiH with returnee settlements," said Dunović.

He added that the aforementioned initiative of the presidents of municipal and city assemblies was also discussed, seeking from the Government of the Federation to provide larger and more significant funds for returnees through the budget.

"I hope that these funds will be secured, now while this budget is being prepared, so that the returnee population, in cooperation, specifically, with the City of Prijedor, can launch some projects that will surely mean a lot to people," said Dunović.

He added that similar projects are being carried out in the FBiH entity as well, and he hopes, when talking about Prijedor, that this is just the beginning of discussions so that all residents of the City of Prijedor can live as well as possible.
The guests from Sarajevo visited some of the returnee settlements in Prijedor to see the condition of the infrastructure as well as what the City of Prijedor has co-financed and supported for returnees to Prijedor.