04.04.2014.

Ministers of Defence and Sports visit the construction site of the athletic facility at Banjica

Nebojsa Rodic, Minister of Defence and Vanja Udovicic, Minister of Youth and Sports, visited today the construction site of the athletic facility at Banjica and announced the start of the second phase of works in May. The two members of the Government had the opportunity to see for themselves the dynamics of the works on construction of that sports facility that will be unique in the region according to its function and capacity.

Defence Minister Nebojsa Rodic recalled that in the previous period there were no delays in the construction of the athletic facility, but now the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Sports have the firm intention to abide by the announced deadlines, which would mean that the second phase of works – covering the facility and finishing craftsmanship works, will start in early May already.

Minister Rodic said that he expects the new athletic facility to be attractive both for the athletes from the region, and for military athletes since it is located on the land that belongs to the University of Defence.

- There is no such facility either in the republics of the former Yugoslavia, or in the countries in the neighbourhood. We are located at an exquisite area where there are many young people, and there is definitely the need for such facility. You can be sure that Minister Udovicic and I will complete our commitments – Rodic said.

- As we have promised a few months ago, together with the Ministry of Defence and the Athletic Association, we

managed to get to the end of the first phase of construction of the athletic facility. In less than seven months there has been done much more than in the period of four years and thus we have shown that we have a responsible approach to solving all the problems we face. We wish to arrange the system not just in sports, but also in the entire society, and we show it in practice – Minister Udovicic said.

The first phase of the athletic facility included the relocation of Banjica streams, construction works and installation of the roof structure. The second phase will begin with installation of the roof, and then the final craftsmanship works will follow after which the facility will be ready for use. The land for the construction of this important sports facility was given by the Ministry of Defence, while the works are funded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.