11.12.2017.
Solving housing issue for members of the security forces
Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, has chaired today the first meeting of the Governmental Commission for the preparation of the Proposal for Housing Construction Programme for members of the security forces.
The meeting, attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Nebojša Stefanović, Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Director of Security and Information Agency Bratislav Gašić, was also attended by President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
During today's meeting, they talked about the way of financing, solving property right issues and determining the appropriate locations for the construction of apartments for the needs of members of the security sector – the Serbian Armed Forces, the Police and the Security and Information Agency.
In his address after the meeting, President Vučić pointed out that this was a good idea from the previous period, which due to the unregulated public finances and high public debt that demanded fiscal consolidation measures could not have been realised earlier, because, he added, it requires relatively significant state participation, but now conditions have been created for entering a large project of state housing construction.
“All the work will be done by the Governmental Commission for State Housing Construction, and I am confident that Ana will fully implement it in the best possible way. Our idea is to improve the standard of living for the citizens of Serbia in several ways, primarily for soldiers, policemen, BIA members, prison guards, people who work hard for our country, a job because of which we all can and we all have the right to feel safe and who have low income and can hardly afford, especially if they are young and if they are building their families, to solve their housing problems in the long run. Their salaries were not big enough so as to be able to do this and they will be increased, there is no doubt, but with this project we wanted to give them a better and different life, a safer tomorrow and a chance to have the opportunity to plan their families and that we can count on better life in the future”, President Vučić said.
He reminded that only the police has up to 20 thousand people who do not have solved their housing issue, the army - about 14 thousand, and the BIA 1,500 members in that status.
- Our idea is to build on locations in several cities, so the meeting included the mayors of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Vranje. Vranje, anyhow, has the best manning record in the Southern Serbia, significantly better than in the Northern Serbia, and it is important that in those parts we show great gratitude to our people who are ready to defend their homeland, who are ready to defend our country and invest a lot of effort and work. Our goal is that, under certain rules for which I said that the Government will define them, we educate and invest more and more money in our soldiers, policemen and security structures, with the aim to retain them in the army and the police. If we are producing in the Military High School tank repairmen to tepair tanks in TRZ Čačak, and if they go, as soon as they complete the Military High School, which we paid for, to work with a private-owned company that will pay better salary than we can, then we are in a difficult situation. In some spheres we have to fight on the market, but in some other spheres we have to protect our country which means that if we have good pilots on the MiG 29s, and we need more and more good helicopter pilots, good experts in the MTI where we need engineers, and they have small salaries, in order for them not to be taken by other companies if you wish to participate in this, the Government will determine that this appartment cannot be in the real estate market during the ten-year period, or you cannot leave the service for 15 years, because you will get something under the absolutely most favorable conditions – President Vučić said.
According to him, under such conditions, on average, for an apartment of 60 square meters at a price of an average of 500 euros per square meter, with a loan of 30 years, the monthly installment would amount to about EUR 126.
- This construction must be good construction, to comply with all energy efficiency rules, it will be in very good locations in our cities, not in the center of the city, but in very decent locations, and that is what we have been talking about today. I think this will contribute to the growth of the GDP of Serbia in a significant way, and I think that if the Government completes it by 15th January then we can throw the first shovel of concrete in the spring already and see how it will look like – President Vučić concluded.
As pointed out by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, this is the initiative of the President of the Republic that the Government has undertaken to implement.
- I welcome this initiative, I think it is important for several reasons. First, we live in very complex times, complex in terms of security, and it is important that we strengthen our security forces, that they feel that the state appreciates them, which is why we have also increased their salaries by 10 percent this year and decided to give them one-time bonuses of 10 thousand dinars by the end of the year. We all need to understand how difficult and dangerous job these people are doing, because we get more and more inquiries from different unions whether they will receive one-time bonuses as well, but 10 thousand dinars is something by which we wanted once again to say “thank you” to the security forces, Brnabić underlined, adding that the Government will try to implement it as efficiently as possible.
According to her, it is planned that the second meeting of the Commission is organized by 15th January, where it will be stated whether the working groups will be formed, as well as models for the four basic elements – the way of financing, solving property right issues, determining the location for the construction of apartments, and regulations and the manner of exercising the rights for distribution of apartments and conditions of purchase.
- These are the things that we need to establish by 15th January and I hope that after that we will have another press conference to inform the public about what are we doing, because we do not want this to be a secret project and we want the public to be informed about what we are doing. We are proud of what we are doing, because this is another way in which we are strengthening our security forces, and, as the president said, we are encouraging GDP, therefore, this is another way how we are investing in housing construction, infrastructure and our building construction companies, and this is another way to quickly influence the economic development – Prime Minister Brnabić said, adding that this project is now working for security forces, and the Commission takes into account that if this model proves successful, it will later be applied to the categories of young married couples and young scientists.
Responding to journalists' questions, President Vučić pointed out that he opted for the project for mass housing construction for members of the defence system because, in relation to other categories, they have the highest percentage of unresolved housing issues, even in the ratio of four to one compared to medical doctors.
- Do not forget that it is difficult to force someone to be a professional soldier with a salary of about 42 thousand dinars which, with all the allowances, amounts to about 50 thousand dinars – President Vučić emphasized.
Speaking about conditions for the purchase of apartments under mentioned favourable conditions, President Vučić said that they will be obliged to spend some time in the civil service and to contribute to the progress of their country.
- This is our way to try to preserve these people within our most important resources to which the state invests, and it invests a lot of energy and money in everything else through education – President Vučić pointed out.
