Introductory conference of the project "Public property for the development of the public sector"

Introductory conference of the project "Public Property for Public Sector Development" was held on Tuesday, 26 March 2019 in the ceremonial hall of the Town Hall in Uzice. The conference was funded by the European Union under the Exchange 5 Programme grant scheme. The Exchange 5 programme is implemented by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in cooperation with the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, from IPA 2014 funds, while the contracting body is the Ministry of Finance, the Sector for Contracting and Financing Programmes from EU funds.

The conference aimed to present the future activities and efforts of two neighbouring local self-governments - the Town of Uzice and the Municipality of Bajina Basta, in order to create a functional and efficient public property management system oriented primarily to citizens and businesses.

The conference was opened by Nemanja Nesic, Deputy Mayor of Uzice. During the introductory speech he emphasized the importance of such projects for improving the management of real estate in public ownership, as an area that significantly contributes to raising the capacities of local self-governments and employees in these institutions in the segments that are crucial for the establishment of a responsible public administration. Stressing that the project "Public Property for Public Sector Development" is the eighth initiative that the Town of Uzice conducts with the support of the European Union, Nesic welcomed the efforts of Uzice and Bajina Basta to maintain good cooperation and inter-municipal relations and thanked the programme holders and all those who will enable public property to be recognised as an important development resource of local self-government units.

The Mayor of Bajina Basta, Radomir Filipovic, welcomed the participants, saying that the project represents the tenth joint action of the Municipality of Bajina Basta and the Town of Uzice in the last five years and a certain step towards defining the institutional framework and fostering capacities for systematic management of public property. Convinced of the partnership's success, Filipovic stated that the project will definitely have a positive impact on changing the situation and resolving existing problems related to the registration of property owned by the municipality.

Slavko Lukić, Director of the Regional Development Agency "Zlatibor", explained how public property is an important resource for the development of the local community and municipal budgets, and also for creating a favourable investment climate and a stimulating business environment for job creation. Lukic also expressed his willingness to support RRA Zlatibor municipalities in the preparation of concepts that lead to efficient inter-municipal and regional cooperation and mentioned similar projects designed to strengthen local administration and adapt public administration to the current legislative framework.

Damjan Milutinović, representative of the Sector for Contracting and Financing the EU Funds Programme at the Ministry of Finance of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, said that the area of property management requires the reform of the system at all levels of government and expressed the interest and openness of the Ministry for joint work on this topic with relevant actors in local self-governments.

Miroslav Ivanovic, Project Manager, presented the planned activities and the expected effects of the mentioned initiative. "The project will establish a system of efficient public property management in Uzice and Bajina Bašta. Citizens will get responsible and transparent local self-governments that seek to increase budget revenues and reduce expenditures, create new values, create a favourable investment and business climate, as well as responsible care of public property, which is in the best interest of local communities. The town of Uzice and the Municipality of Bajina Basta will be able to provide relevant information on publicly owned facilities and land to interested private sector and potential investors, which will improve their competitiveness in relation to other local self-governments", Ivanovic said at the end of his presentation.

The Secretary of the Uzice Assembly, Petar Vujadinovic, reminded of the amendments to the law in the area in question, which, as he considers, creates a collision in the regulations that apply, thus preventing the regulation of the procedure for registering public property and overcoming all identified obstacles in this process. Vujadinović noted that legal regulations must undergo additional changes that are in the interest of both the holders of the rights of public property and users in order to achieve economic, financial and political benefits from this process. Good property management, apart from synchronised regulations, requires a stable annual increase in budget revenues and multidisciplinary teamwork of trained staff, added Vujadinović.

Milena Radomirović, Programme Manager of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), after presenting the context of the Exchange 5 Implementation, assessed support for public property management at the local level as a true move to improve governance and level of services in local self-government in order to foster local development. According to her, although the topic of property management in the narrow sense does not represent a part of the EU acquis communautaire, it is certainly important as a horizontal theme for many issues in the planning and investment chapters in the accession process. At the end of the introductory address, Radomirović said that the experience gained through current projects would be used to identify good practices that could be applied in other local self-governments and to improve the legal framework of importance for property management at the local level.