One Million KM for Flood-Affected Areas

Reisu-l-ulema Husein ef. Kavazović and the Federal Minister for Displaced Persons and Refugees Adil Osmanović signed a Protocol on Cooperation today for the implementation of a program to provide support for the rehabilitation of damage caused by floods and landslides in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the aim of providing financial assistance in housing endangered families and revitalizing individual, religious, and other facilities in the affected areas, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

In response to the damage caused by floods and landslides, affecting individual, religious, and other infrastructure facilities, as well as economic and agricultural assets, the signatory parties will provide financial resources that will be distributed through a special financial support program.

The Islamic Community in BiH and the Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons and Refugees will act jointly to improve the program of providing assistance for damage rehabilitation.

According to the signed Protocol, the bodies of the Islamic Community in BiH, muftiates, communities, and other individuals authorized by the Reisu-l-ulema may sign specific agreements with the Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons and Refugees for concrete projects.

After signing the Protocol, Reisu-l-ulema Husein ef. Kavazović and Minister Adil Osmanović gave statements to the media.

- We in the Islamic Community are pleased that today we had the opportunity to sign a Protocol on Cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons and Refugees, in the hope that this assistance, which has reached the Islamic Community, will be made available to our people as soon as possible. We believe that in this way we can ensure safer projects and jointly assess on the ground which projects are important to implement in the near future.

The Islamic Community has already disbursed a portion of the funds through our bodies, communities, and muftiates, so certain projects are already being implemented in the Zenica-Doboj and Tuzla Cantons. In Bosanski Šamac, some houses are already being repaired and the damage is being rehabilitated.

I want to thank Ismail ef. Smajlović, who heads our Main Operational Staff and has been managing these affairs all along, and I hope that together with the ministry, we will manage to disburse the remaining funds available to the Islamic Community as soon as possible, said Reisu-l-ulema Husein ef. Kavazović.

- I am pleased that this Protocol on joint co-financing of projects has been signed, which are necessary to address the consequences of the floods in BiH as quickly as possible. I thank the respected Reisu-l-ulema and his associates who have recognized the activities undertaken by the Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons and Refugees and for joining us in certain projects, primarily in addressing the damage to residential buildings, as well as infrastructure, road communications, religious, cultural, and other facilities. After the natural disasters occurred, the Federal Ministry formed an Operational Staff and immediately proceeded to amend and supplement our Decision on the spending of financial resources, adapting the program to the new situation, and allocating approximately six million and eight hundred thousand KM to resolve these issues. We engaged our engineers, as well as engineers from other companies, so we have so far surveyed over one thousand two hundred residential units in the Zenica-Doboj, Una-Sana, Tuzla Cantons, and in the RS. To date, we have spent over three million and two hundred thousand KM on the rehabilitation of minor damage to residential units.

The signing of this Protocol is very important for us because we have surveyed a large number of residential buildings, and our financial resources are not sufficient to cover all of them. With the funds available to the Islamic Community, we will try to jointly undertake some projects, both residential and infrastructural, which will enable the Federal Ministry to engage in other facilities that are also a priority, said Minister Osmanović, among other things.

Regarding the value of this Protocol, according to Reis Kavazović, the Islamic Community has placed slightly over one million KM at the disposal of the Ministry, announced Mina.