10.10.2011.

Visit to the exchanged “Petar Drapsin” barracks in Subotica

During their today’s visit to Subotica, the Defence Ministry delegation, headed by Minister Sutanovac, visited, together with the town’s authorities, the location of the former “Petar Drapsin” barracks on the Palic road. Last year, as a part of the Master plan, the barracks were exchanged, becoming in that way the town’s property.

According to Minister Sutanovac words, thankful to its agile leadership, Subotica is one of the first local governments which joined the realization of the property exchange process.

- Contrary to some other towns and municipalities where we exchanged the property for housing units, here we did that for money, which the municipality of Subotica paid in, based on the Tax Administration assessments. This is one of the bright examples of how the Serbian Armed Forces can cooperate with local self-governments, even in the towns where there are no Armed Forces – Minister Sutanovac emphasised during the visit to the former “Petar Drapsin” barrack.

He expressed his content that the Defence Ministry was able to aid the economic expansion of Subotica and some other towns in Serbia, which was the main aim from the beginning of the project.

- It will be our pleasure to continue the cooperation, since there is an interest for another barrack and we believe we will realize that project in the best possible way as well. All barracks all over Serbia which are non-perspective for the Serbian Armed Forces are placed at the Property Directorate’s disposal through the Master Plan. Our wish, and this is the most transparent job up to now, is that the local self-governments, in line with their possibilities, participate in the purchase of those premises and the conversion of land in the building land or some other type of land. In the course of these four and a half years we have not had any single affair – Minister Sutanovac said, adding that there were couple of affairs earlier in connection with military property, but there were no such issues in cooperation with municipalities and towns.

Speaking about the “Kosta Nadj” barrack in Subotica, which is also an object of interest to the local self-government, Minister pointed out that the discussions about the possibilities and modes for its purchase by the town will be based on the Tax Administration assessment of its value. The Minister pointed out that in that case no purchase for money would take place, but that the exchange for the possible housing units’ building land plots is being considered. The Military Club in Subotica is also part of the Master Plan, and it will also be offered to the town, as a non-perspective property. In case the town is not interested, it will be offered at the public market through the Property Directorate.

The Major of Subotica, Sasa Vucinic confirmed the Minister’s assertions that Subotica was the first town in Serbia to enter the process of the exchange of military objects envisaged by the Master Plan, according to which the local self-government had the advantage when purchasing that type of land and premises.

- Our cooperation on this matter continues, and what maybe does not look impressive enough is the infrastructure which gives this land an additional quality. There are new offers from the commercial area, but the crisis have slowed them down – the Mayor Vucinic pointed out, adding that there is a question of one more building in that town to be settled; it is the Military Club in the city center. He said that the Defence Ministry with its accompanying offices was Subotica’s reliable and quality partner and it solved the biggest shortage which the current authorities face, namely the building land shortage.

REPLIES TO JOUNRNALISTS‘ QUESTIONS

In reply to a journalist’s question regarding an alleged video material from Jarinje, Minister Sutanovac pointed out that the story about the video was placed by certain media and it presents the public’s disavowal.

- There is no such video. The services’ presentation at the Security Board, where, as the only minister in the Government, I was present during the whole session, was a joint presentation of all services and agencies that function in Serbia, and it was not the Armed Forces’ presentation. Another important thing is that when we talk about secrets you receive from abroad or those you have in your own country, they are secrets so that they would not appear in public, as they carry a certain weight which could cause problems from the security aspects. I insist that this be respected, because there is no country in the world which transparently places its secrets in front of the citizens – the Minister said, emphasising that the situation in Jarinje was not completely clarified, but that the media headlines contributed to the emotional charges and ignited frictions. – This is certainly not our goal, because, I will remind you, in Kosovo and Metohija and south from the river Ibar, there are large numbers of people and we do not want to bring anybody in difficulty – Minister stressed.

When it comes to the professionalization of the Armed Forces, Minister said that the process occurs at a satisfactory level.
“What is important to say here, in Subotica, is that we have the representatives of all ethnic minorities among our Armed Forces, and we hope this would continue in the future as well. The capacities are more that ninety percent filled, which is more than average among those Armed Forces which have already been professionalized. This implies that we have a great response”, Sutanovac said.