By co-financing the construction and renovation, the Serbian National Council (SNV) wants to help municipalities get halls that will be used not only for sports and recreation, but for other purposes as well. Biskupija is being helped to complete its hall, while the first phase of construction is being co-financed in Negoslavci
BY: Nenad Jovanović / Novosti
An agreement on the allocation of funds for co-financing the construction and reconstruction of sports halls in the municipalities of Negoslavci and Biskupija was signed on May 26 at the SNV headquarters in Zagreb. The contract was signed by the president of SNV Milorad Pupovac, the respective municipality mayors Dušan Jeckov and Milan Đurđević, as well as the principal of the primary school in Negoslavci, Branislav Danilovac.
SNV financially supports the construction and reconstruction of sports halls in small municipalities where Serbs make up the majority and which do not have complete infrastructure and sports halls.
– By co-financing these things, we want to encourage municipalities to get halls that will, in addition to being used for sports and recreation, serve a number of other purposes. We have already helped Biskupija in part with the renovation and now we will help the municipality to complete their hall, while in Negoslavci we are co-financing the first phase of construction – said Emina Đurašević, who is in charge of capital investments at the SNV.
According to Milan Đurđević, the municipality mayor of Biskupija, the sports hall is located within the grounds of the former primary school in the village of Zvjerinac. With the funds granted by the SNV, the municipality, and the construction company “Knauf,” which operates in the area, they managed to renovate the outdoor playing fields, as well as part of the roofing and carpentry in the sports hall building, and with this donation on behalf of the SNV, they can now start refurbishing the interior of the facility, which will be a multifunctional space for sports, as well as a fitness centre and a gym.
– Since children from Biskupija attend school in Knin and use the sports hall there, it will be possible to use ours to hold not only different extracurricular student activities and tournaments, but also various pageants and shows, folklore society (KUD) performances, as well as celebrations such as the one marking the day of our municipality, etc. As the hall is not designed to have stands, with some modifications, sport events could be attended by up to 50 people, and, as for other events, chairs can be placed on the court itself and a stage can be used, so up to 200 people could fit inside the hall – said Đurđević.
But that is not all.
– This upcoming fall, we will open a new kindergarten for 20 children aged three to six, we are finishing the construction works on the Social and Cultural Centre, and this year we will start building a water supply network for Vrbnik, the largest village in the municipality, which is the only one that still does not have a water supply infrastructure, something that should be resolved in the days to come – Đurđević announced.
Work is getting done, buildings are being constructed, but one of the questions was: “For whom?”
– Certainly, the biggest problem is the negative population growth. Few children are being born, and many of the elderly are dying. Interestingly enough, more people immigrate every year to our municipality than they emigrate, but that only improves the overall situation to some extent – says Đurđević.
Dušan Jeckov, the municipality mayor of Negoslavci, also points out that this is an important project.
– We have a school in our municipality, but the children do not have the right conditions to be able to have regular physical education classes. Building a sports hall is an absolute necessity, so a few years ago we turned to the Vukovar-Srijem County, which has founding rights, and we obtained the project documentation as well as the building permit, which was the first precondition for us to be able to move on with the project. Now, with the help of the SNV, we have provided initial funds of one million Croatian kuna for the sports hall that we need. The hall is not only necessary to fulfil the needs of children attending primary school, but it would also have multiple other functions – it would be a place for both cultural and sports events. We have a permit from 2019. According to the cost estimate, the value of the hall is 7.5 million Croatian kuna, although in the current conditions it could be even higher. We will hold a meeting with our partners to discuss closing the financial framework and beginning the construction process this calendar year – says Jeckov.
A lot is being done in Negoslavci as well. For example, we are working on the project documentation for constructing a kindergarten.
– We have preschool facilities, but not a classic kindergarten. There are also some other projects related to the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds in terms of working on improving the municipality centre and some of the roads, the contract with the Joint Council of Municipalities (ZVO) about expanding the sports centre in the municipality, where we have opened a gym. Some additional facilities are also needed. Work is underway to remove illegal dumps, and there are plans for the fencing of the cemetery and the construction of footpaths for pedestrians. As part of the programmes for demographic measures, every year we give financial aid to entrepreneurs, married couples, and children, we pay allowances to our pensioners… – says Jeckov.
As the principal of the “Negoslavci” Primary School, Branislav Danilovac told us, the school – which is one of the smaller ones – has a total of 79 students and 15 preschoolers.
– The number of students has approximately remained the same in the last few years, but 20 years ago, when I first became the principal, the school had 195 students – says Danilovac, assessing the great importance of the future sports hall.