Centar Municipality: Free Greenhouses for Eight Farmers

The Centar Municipality of Sarajevo, led by Mayor Dževad Bećirević, is taking a number of steps to create a favorable business environment and employment conditions, especially for members of the veteran and refugee populations. Thus, a total of 35,000 KM has been allocated in this year's municipal budget for the purchase of 50-square-meter greenhouses with additional equipment, which are being awarded to interested farmers – socially vulnerable members of the veteran and refugee populations residing in the Centar municipality, reports Patria News Agency.

This type of incentive is extremely significant, especially because the donations are not given in cash but in means and tools for work with which new values will be created. In this way, the Centar Municipality wants to help these categories alleviate the difficult social situation they are in.

In May of this year, 11 households from the central Sarajevo municipality received greenhouses, for which the initially planned 20,000 KM was spent. In order for a larger number of people who want to engage in this production to receive this donation, the Centar Municipal Council, at its 48th session held on May 12, 2016, adopted amendments to this year's budget and approved an additional 15,000 KM for the purchase, transport, and installation of greenhouses for eight more households that applied for the public call and met the prescribed criteria, but did not receive this donation from the Centar Municipality in the first round due to insufficient funds.

The installation of greenhouses with additional equipment for maintaining optimal conditions such as temperature and light will begin soon. Bilal Podbičanin, Jusuf Dorić, Osman Kadrović, Alija Kutinčić, Naza Orić, Aida Omeragić, Vahid Avdić, and Arman Galičić will receive the greenhouses, and contracts will be signed with them next week.

Otherwise, the public call for farmers to submit applications for greenhouse allocation was announced on February 18, 2016, and was open for 20 days. Residents of the Centar municipality who own or are legal users of agricultural land suitable for greenhouse production had the right to participate in this project. The public call listed criteria that carried a certain number of points. In addition to evaluating land suitability, unemployed persons, demobilized veterans, close family members of fallen defenders, war veterans with disabilities, civilian war victims, former prisoners of war, etc., receive points.

Twenty-two candidates applied for the public call, of which three did not meet the established criteria (one was not a resident of the Centar municipality, two did not have the minimum land for greenhouse production). The largest number of applicants were from the Nahorevo area, and there were also several from Nahorevska brda and Betanija, i.e., rural areas of the central Sarajevo municipality where conditions exist for the local population to engage in agricultural production and animal husbandry.

The Municipal Mayor Dževad Bećirević appointed a professional commission for the selection of beneficiaries of this project, which included Prof. Dr. Velija Katica, the initiator of this project and the proposer of the adopted amendment to allocate an additional 15,000 KM in the budget, as well as agricultural engineers Mr. Nezir Omeragić and Nedim Talić. The Commission's task was to determine the factual situation on the ground for each applicant regarding the suitability of the land for greenhouse production, and based on the Rulebook, to conduct the scoring procedure and determine the ranking list of applicants who meet the prescribed conditions for receiving greenhouses, which was done.

At the proposal of the aforementioned professional commission, the municipal mayor made a decision that 11 farmers would receive greenhouses in the first round: Beriz Omerović, Refik Omerović, Aldin Pandžić, Damir Spahić, Rasim Muharemović, Orhan Jusić, Nedeljko Đokanović, Halid Muharemović, Zejnil Muharemović, Mehmedalija Ramić, and Esad Hujdur.