25.08.2011.

Visit by the Minister of Defence to "Morava" Airport

Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac, Chairman of the Management Board of Air Traffic Control Agency of Serbia and Montenegro, Nikola Stankov, and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Major General Milan Bjelica, visited today, "Morava" Airport in Ladjevci near Kraljevo, which is under construction for making it suitable for civil air traffic and its inclusion in the network of airports of the Republic of Serbia.

- This project is the biggest infrastructure project carried out by the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in the last few decades – Minister Sutanovac pointed out. By this activity, he underlined, the Ministry and the Armed Forces showed also not only that they are fulfilling the obligations prescribed by the law, stipulated in the mission, but they also represent betterment for the whole economy of the state and the region.

- "Morava" Airport is geographically positioned so that in its wider area there is population of around two million potential passengers. The airport will allow the defence industry factories from the immediate vicinity to export their products through the Airport. The Serbian Armed Forces is engaged also today in building of Kraljevo after the earthquake. Only for salaries and pensions of current and former members of the Armed Forces in Kraljevo, 855 million dinars is paid annually and it is also a great gain for the city. According to the new law, the city receives some funds that are now higher than before. It is important to emphasize that the Serbian Armed Forces is an important factor of economic stability of the municipality and the cities in the development across Serbia – Minister Sutanovac said.

The "Morava" Airport will be the third largest airport in Serbia with international characteristics after Belgrade and Nis airports. The Minister announced that in October already small aircraft of up to 100 seats will be able to take off from the airport, and as of spring next year it will be equipped also for charter flights and will start with generating revenues.

Sutanovac visited the works at that airport, where the construction of the terminal building, control tower, techno-economic block, and arranging the runway are being finalised.

- This is the first phase of building the civil airport "Morava", and the next year the second phase will begin, after which this airport will become a modern airport for international flights – Sutanovac said.

The project value is approximately 32 million euros. The project is supported by the Government of the Republic of Turkey, i.e. their Ministry of Defence with ten million euros. We are currently searching for a way in which the money will be placed. On this occasion, Minister Sutanovac thanked the Ministry of Economy which donated funds amounting to 2 million euros to the local government, then to Air Traffic Control of Serbia and Montenegro helping the project of building the control tower with 3.5 million euros, as well as to the representatives of the Nikola Tesla airport, who provided 2 million euros to render support both financially and through technical assistance and equipment.

Speaking to the reporters, the Chairman of the Management Board of Air Traffic Control Agency of Serbia and Montenegro, Nikola Stankov, pointed out that they were investing in the latest equipment that is currently available on the world market.

- Out of the total investment, 2.1 million euros will be spent on the construction of building for air traffic control. It will fully meet the legal requirements for a good working environment. We will buy the latest equipment and systems worth 1.5 million euros. As for the air traffic controllers, "Morava" Airport is still open for the needs of the military and has a fully developed organizational structure and we are securing flying. Admission and recruitment of new people in the air traffic control is going according to the usual way. Currently we are receiving about 25 electrical and transport engineers and 15 technicians with experience – Stankov added.

Velimir Radosavljevic, the director of the Nikola Tesla airport, said that after the first phase of works is completed, there will be about 50 new jobs, and after the completion of the second phase there will be additional 150 jobs.

- We have already provided the money for the first phase of works – it is the sum of 2 million euros that we donated last year. We will make available all counter-sabotage equipment, for technical maintenance of manoeuvring areas and for accepting the aircraft. In parallel with these activities, we will also train population of Kraljevo and this region for the work at the Morava Airport – Radosavljevic concluded.

Morava Airport, according to the Mayor of Kraljevo, Ljubisa Simovic, will be of paramount importance not only for passengers but also for the freight traffic.

- This area can significantly raise their economic resources in the field of manufacturing and agriculture, and this airport will be very useful for us. The local government will continue to participate in this project through the process of land purchase and building a local road that will link the airport with the main road – Simovic said.

ANSWERS TO THE JOURNALISTS' QUESTIONS

Answering the journalists' questions, Minister Sutanovac pointed out that the tender for contractors in the second phase of construction of "Morava" civil airport has been announced.

- The Turkish side coordinates and monitors the invitation for tender, because their funds will be invested. All contractors who are currently here on the ground are local contractors and it was the original intention, to support the economy of Kraljevo and its neighbourhood in this way. It is in our interest that our friends who have invested the money have a clean and transparent picture. I think that the Turkish party will get a part of the work related to expanding the surface area and the runway lighting which is one of the most challenging parts of the job, for which I express my gratitude to the former and the current defence ministers of Turkey who invested really great energy to give one of the largest donations which the Ministry of Defence have ever received since the fifties – Sutanovac said.

According to Minister Sutanovac, the airport can already be up and running at full capacity for charter flights that will fly from Kraljevo to the resorts as of next spring.

"We wish to make it of the best possible quality. We do not think that we can start with large aircraft from Kraljevo on the first day. We wish to provide funds successively and to continue the investments. Help of the Belgrade airport is great. They will be the operator that will help us to manage the civilian part of the airport," Sutanovac emphasized.

Answering to the question of the reporters about the fate of the Serbian citizens who are at the airport in Tripoli, Minister Sutanovac said that the members of the Armed Forces and the Ministry do not reside in Libya, and if it is found that people who were previously employed in the defence system are there, that stay was organized in their personal organisation and is not related to the security structures of the Armed Forces, or they are members of any security service.

Regarding the allegations that Croatia and Serbia are on the list of countries in which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi could seek for asylum, Šutanovac pointed to the fact that Croatia supports NATO bombing of Libya from the beginning, which indicates the falsity of these claims, and that it is the disinformation.

"When we evacuated our citizens from Libya, we tried to evacuate them all and I can say that there were two-thirds citizens more than the number according to our data. These are people who are engaged by private and foreign companies and who were not in our records, "stressed the minister.

Speaking about the demonstration exercise of the ROSA unit on the border with Kosovska Mitrovica, Sutanovac assessed that any exercise of this kind is currently inadequate, as in Kosovo and Metohija there are areas where the exercises can be organized without raising tensions.

"It seems that Pristina still wants to keep a high level of risk and anxiety, and this is something that will continue, but it is good that we remain patient, to be wise and not to fall on the obvious provocations that lead to new conflicts between Serbia and the international community. On this occasion I appeal to all in Kosovo and Metohija who are responsible not to respond to similar provocations because it is something that has already been seen in the past and what usually led us in the wrong direction", said Sutanovac.

The South Base is one of large multi-year projects of the Ministry of Defence which was completed last year.

"We are planning to convert the South Base to make it multifunctional. The idea is that it becomes a regional centre for peacekeeping operations, and I hope that it will soon become. We expect more donations for change of use and we expect by the end of the year to have certain signs and quite possibly an exercise of the members of various armies to be held in the territory of the South Base", Sutanovac emphasized.