24.03.2010.
Cooperation of the Ministry of Defence and the Town of Valjevo
Defence Minister Dragan Šutanovac met with the Mayor of Valjevo Zoran Jakovljevi?, the local government representatives and the management of the factory “Krušik”. The topic of discussion was the exchange of military property for housing, as well as the plans in the local defence industry.
As it has been stated at the press conference, the agreement has been reached on the exchange of the Army House of the Serbian Armed Forces in Valjevo for flats intended for the members of the defence system. - We talked about the exchange of the Armed Forces House in Valjevo for a certain number of square meters of residential units owned by the town of Valjevo. The idea is to make a contract under which the town would provide in the forthcoming period the residential area which is currently lacking, to obtain the Armed Forces House for use in return. The transfer of ownership would be realised once mutual requirements have been met. This is the way to stop the deterioration of this military facility, but also to move the local government to provide housing in the amount of the value of the Armed Forces House – the Defence Minister said and explained that the Tax Administration estimated its value at 52 million dinars.
He explained that Valjevo now disposes of five flats valued at 17 million dinars and that the contract on the exchange will be executed so that the local government becomes the owner of the Armed Forces House only when they pay the difference.
Minister Šutanovac said that it is a wish of the Ministry of Defence to implement, in cooperation with the town of Valjevo, a pilot project that involves parcelling out the land in the location of the Fifth Regiment into parts of about five acres, which would be offered to the members of the Serbian Armed Forces. On these sites they would be given the opportunity for individual housing construction, in accordance with their capabilities and the loans they would be granted.
According to the Minister's words, it would include not only members of the Armed Forces but also all the civil servants regardless of whether it is the Ministry of Defence, Health, Education or Interior.
Responding to journalists' questions about the status and future domestic defence industry, the Defence Minister stressed that the Serbian Government does not think about the sale or privatization of military factories as they are essential to the defence system, and thus for the state. Serbia is definitely a leader in the region in the field of production and export of military equipment. According to all the statistics the Serbian defence industry is the largest in the Balkan region and we wish to keep it that way. We expect in the future more new contracts for the export of armaments and military equipment worth several hundred million euros and with deals agreed several years in advance – Šutanovac pointed out.
The Minister said that the factory “Krusik” has been busier this year than in the last one especially in the production of those elements which bring higher profits. He pointed out that the problem of “Krusik” is that it has debt to the state for different funds and therefore the Government is to convert this debt for the stakes in the factory.
