Budget Revision to Bring More Road Funding, Vucic Says
After meeting with the finance minister, Serbia's president said in Veliki Popovic near Despotovac that the budget revision includes more money for roads, alongside two 1.4-kilometer road sections.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in Veliki Popovic near Despotovac that the budget revision now includes a larger allocation for roads, after discussing the matter with the finance minister the evening before. He made the statement on August 13, at the first stop of a one day tour of the Pomoravlje region, outside the company “Ukras,” where a large number of locals had gathered to greet him.
According to the schedule published by the Media Cooperation Service of the President of the Republic, the tour covers five municipalities: Despotovac, Jagodina, Rekovac, Razanj and Paracin. The president was accompanied by Economy Minister Andrijana Mesarovic. Vucic said he had held the same conversation on previous days in the Zlatibor, Moravica, Pirot and Zajecar districts, and that the Pomoravlje district was next in line.
What road sections were announced
The president outlined two projects. The first is the upgrade of a 1.4 kilometer stretch running through a Roma settlement, which he said would cost around 350,000 euros including tax. The second is a section of equal length on the Svilajnac to Vojska road, which runs almost 23 kilometers in total, so the work is being carried out in stages.
Vucic also recalled that the regional road between Svilajnac and Despotovac was fully reconstructed a few years ago. The outlet has previously reported on roadwork near Ivanjica and Sjenica, where the completion deadline is 25 months, so the announcements from Pomoravlje fit into the same string of road projects the president has been visiting in the field.
He explained the basis for the higher allocation through the country’s growth rate. Since Serbia, as he put it, has a solid growth rate, more can be done, and the government will look to increase road funding.
Message on Resavica
Speaking about the mine in Resavica, Vucic said there was no reason for concern and that bad news should not be spread. He said around 1,000 employees at the company should not worry, and asked those present to pass that message on.
At the same stop he also raised the issue of the health clinic in Jasenovo. Locals told him doctors had not been coming for months, even though the facility is equipped with an ultrasound machine, an EKG device and other equipment. The president said he would discuss the matter with the health minister that same day.
Grants and a call to citizens
Zdravko Rajic, owner of the family company “Ukras,” said workers’ wages are never late and that the firm has also produced trim for apartments at Belgrade Waterfront. The company employs 46 workers and produces more than two million meters of decorative profiles a year.
Vucic told him about a state grant program for purchasing basic equipment. “You can get up to 6.3 million dinars, if I remember correctly, free money for basic assets,” the president said, adding that the amount comes to around 54,000 euros that does not need to be repaid to the state.
Part of his remarks addressed how the visits themselves are organized. Vucic said he had heard that one or two municipal presidents, in places he visited on previous days, had asked that only people whose questions they approved be allowed to attend.
“Come and ask me whatever you want, don’t ask the municipal president for permission”
He delivered the message through the media, adding that everyone has the right to ask a question and to criticize. The municipal presidents were not named.
Rest of the schedule
After Veliki Popovic, the itinerary included a visit to the egg packing center of the company “Agro-Djole” and to the farm of the Maslar family, who have eight children, near Jagodina, followed by the Jovanovic family, who have ten children, and the Bora family winery near Rekovac.
According to the published schedule, a visit to the company “Gerber-Export” in the village of Vitosevac near Razanj, which manufactures and installs metal and steel structures, was planned for 2:30 p.m. That was to be followed by a look at roadwork on the route toward Grza in Paracin at 3:25 p.m., and a visit to PVC profile manufacturer “NIP Spasic” at 4:15 p.m.
The exact amount the budget revision sets aside for road infrastructure has not been disclosed. It will become known once the revision proposal reaches the National Assembly of Serbia.
