During their one-day visit to Novi Pazar, Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia Ambassador Michael Davenport and Swiss Deputy Chief of Mission Jean-Luc Oesch today visited the site of the Raška watershed flood protection project together with their host, the City Mayor Meho Mahmutović. The European Union and the Swiss and Serbian Governments have set aside over half a million Euro over the past five years for the implementation of this project.
“The first step was to prepare the extensive technical documentation and the next step involved the construction of eight dams. We witnessed the results as soon as the dams were built, because the City of Novi Pazar withstood the floods this April,” Ambassador Davenport said.
“Prevention is always much cheaper than recovery from the effects. The benefits of every dinar invested in prevention are manifold,” Novi Pazar Mayor Meho Mahmutović said.
The City of Novi Pazar and the Municipality of Raška had suffered major damage every year due to the floods caused by the unregulated riverbeds of the Raška watershed. The rivers used to flood the homesteads and fields, usually in the spring and autumn. In 2012 and 2013 alone, the damages exceeded two and one million Euro respectively. The benefits of the flood protection project for Novi Pazar were obvious already in April, when it was spared from the flooding of the overflowing rivers.
Ambassador Davenport on this occasion confirmed that an agreement was about to be reached on 30 million Euro EU support to Serbia to recover from the damages caused by the May floods.
Ambassador Davenport held a meeting in the morning with Novi Pazar Mayor Meho Mahmutović and the leading local businessmen. They discussed the new development programme, European PROGRES, which is implemented in 34 South East and South West Serbian local self-governments and aims to improve the environment for employability and business growth, facilitate infrastructural development, improve local planning and management capacities and enhance social inclusion.
