05.11.2014.

New apartments for members of the defence system in Pirot

Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic handed 11 keys to new apartments in Kozaracka Street in Pirot to members of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of Serbia. The apartments are the result of transfer of public property for the Club of the Armed Forces between the Republic of Serbia – Ministry of Defence as the user of the property, and the Municipality of Pirot.

Minister Gasic stated that, in the past two and a half years, the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia had given 1300 apartments to members of the defence system.

- We have not yet completely finished the revision of the number of requests we have, and some date back from 1978. We are re

vising the list, and we expect that we will give another 150 apartments in Serbia by the end of the year, mostly in Belgrade. After 10 years since the beginning of transfer of property in Pirot, we have managed to finish 11 apartments. Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia are seriously considering returning our members into the barracks in Pirot, and I hope that this process will be finished until the end of 2015. Similar plans are under way for the Municipality of Surdulica, and so this part of Serbia would have a great number of members of the Armed Forces – Minister of Defence said, adding that, today, he discussed with President of the Municipality of Pirot Vladan Vasic about the ways this municipality could help bringing the military back to Pirot barracks as soon as possible.

Vasic stated that two processes had been finished in the city today – apartments have been given to members of the defence system and they discussed giving Pirot back its authority over the Military House.

- Moreover, I was glad to hear that there is a serious intention to bring the Armed Forces of Serbia into our barracks, which is similar to opening a new factory in Pirot due to the many effects this would have – first of all, for the economy in the east of Serbia, especially in Pirot – President of the municipality stressed.

Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia gave the Club of the Armed Forces to the Municipality of Pirot on May 28, 2014, according to the contracts signed between the National Property Directorate and the Municipality of Pirot. The Municipality of Pirot agreed to the public property transfer in exchange for 843,853.50 euros. By the same provision, the Municipality of Pirot took the commitment of transferring public property for 11 apartments, 9 two-bedroom apartments, a one-bedroom and a three-bedroom apartment into public property of the Republic of Serbia. Total surface area of the apartments is 645 square meters, and their market value of 274,710.68 euros has been established by the Tax Administration of the Ministry of Finance.

Keys to new apartments were also given to members of the defence system in Milentija Popovica Street in Vranje. The keys were handed by the Minister of Defence. The apartments have been acquired after transfer of property – military complex, training court and training grounds Bunusevac 04 and Bunusevac 05 between the National Property Directorate of the Republic of Serbia and the Municipality of Vranje.

Commenting on the plans for future solutions of residential issues of members of the defence system, Minister Gasic said that there are around 19,500 requests still on the waiting list, which is very important in order to get an objective view of the current state. Minister also announced resolution of the issue of the barracks in Zemun and the completion of works on apartments in Nis.

- Today we were in Vranje and Pirot solely with the wish to give these people keys to the apartments and for them to move in as soon as possible, and we also want to show that we are not only there for the members of the defence system in Belgrade. We will accelerate this process significantly, primarily because we know that SAF members live humbly and that we need to take a lot more care of the social status of our members – Minister of Defence stated, adding that this had not been the case between 2000 and 2012.

Answering questions about representative objects of the Armed Forces of Serbia, Minister Gasic stressed that all those objects have been included in the Master Plan, so that out of 457 SAF objects only 67 have been alienated in 12 years, adding that the Armed Forces of Serbia cannot “give away” its property.

Out of 27 apartments offered by the Municipality of Vranje, Ministry of Defence accepted 22 apartments of total 1284 square meters for the needs of members of the defence system, in value of 80,892,000 dinars (699,110.68 euros according to the official NBS exchange rates on the day of estimation). There are 11 three-bedroom apartments, 6 of two and a half bedrooms and 5 one-and-a-half-bedroom apartments.