Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said during a visit to Kraljevo, hit on 1 November last year by a strong earthquake, that a great job has been done in rebuilding the city.

Touring the construction sites of prefabricated houses, Cvetkovic pointed out that a great job was done in less than a year and without any problem and in a transparent manner.

The Prime Minister visited the Radisavljevic family in the Ribnica residential area, who received a prefabricated house.He said that more than 400 prefabricated houses have been set up, while another 100 are yet to be installed.

The government in the last three to four months helped Kraljevo with more than RSD 850 million, Cvetkovic said, noting that total state aid to Kraljevo will be greater than RSD 2 billion.

This experience shows that even in crisis, when natural disasters hit us, we can be in solidarity, which refers to the Serbian government, the companies and individuals, he said.

Minister for Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic explained that approximately 15,000 facilities in Kraljevo have been repaired.

We expect to repair houses and 27 apartment buildings by 1 October, said Markovic. He recalled that approximately 80,000 citizens suffered the damage from the earthquake.

Cvetkovic, Markovic and Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic laid the foundation stone for the construction of sports hall in Ribnica, Kraljevo.

The funds for the hall are set aside from the government’s programme of support to the construction industry in the time of crisis, he said.

Dulic pointed out that RSD 18 billion was allocated this year for the completion of public facilities in Serbia, including sports halls, stadiums and swimming pools.

He said that the deadline for the completion of the sports hall in Kraljevo on 8 July next year and the project will cost RSD 520 million, of which RSD 450 million will be set aside this year.

Half of the funds are provided by Kraljevo, half by the state, said the Minister and announced that the new hall should have 3,300 seats and will span on 7,500 square metres.

Dulic also signed with the presidents of 16 towns and municipalities contracts for the construction and equipping of recycling centres.

He also said that RSD 650 million, that the Serbian government provided for utility companies, will be used to build 20 recycling centres.

The contracts were signed with representatives of the municipalities of Kraljevo, Belgrade, Sombor, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Valjevo, Vranje, Indjija, Trstenik, Majdanpek, Raska, Ada, Sokobanja, Vrnjacka Banja, Negotin and Paracin.