By unveiling commemorative plaques in the Municipality Building and the Health Care Centre in Maglaj on July 29, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Dr. Renzo Daviddi, the Mayor of Maglaj, Mr. Mehmed Mustabašić, and the Director of the Health Care Centre, Dr. Emira Drnda, celebrated the completion of rehabilitation works on eight public buildings in Maglaj by the EU Floods Recovery Programme.
“Maglaj is one of the largest recipients of the EU’s post-flood recovery assistance in BiH and I am delighted to see that our financing continues to deliver results to the people of Maglaj. All eight public buildings rehabilitated by the EU Floods Recovery Programme play a key role in providing vital services to the citizens, and their rehabilitation is a strong sign of the EU’s continued solidarity towards Maglaj,” Dr. Daviddi said.
The EU’s financial investment for rehabilitation of four schools, a kindergarten, the Social Welfare Centre, the Health Care Centre and the Municipal Building amounts to nearly 2,2 million EUR. In total, the EU Floods Recovery Programme has supported Maglaj’s post-flood recovery with nearly four million Euros.
“The past year has been difficult for BiH, and especially for Maglaj, which suffered severe damage in the May 2014 floods. Maglaj is recovering – slowly but surely. Thanks to donor funding in general and the EU in particular, a great deal has been achieved. We are recovering with wounds and scars which we will have to nurse for years to come, but we are also richer in friends from BiH and abroad who have helped us selflessly to once again become the city of songs, music, greenery, sport and youth,” Mayor Mustabašić said in his introductory remarks.
Dr. Drnda, the Director of the Health Care Centre which provides vital health care services to 43,000 inhabitants in the Maglaj Municipality, also expressed her gratitude to donors: “After the catastrophic floods, the physical damage we suffered was at first incomprehensible. However, thanks to the EU’s support, we now have a completely rehabilitated Health Care Centre. Two stories which were flooded have been completely rehabilitated and reconstructed, and our long-lasting heating problems have now been resolved. Also energy efficiency measures have been introduced and we have a new facade. As a result, we now have a fully functional building which provides much better working conditions for the employees and better health care services than before. On behalf of the employees of the Health Care Centre and on my own behalf I would like to thank the EU for the assistance provided, since without this assistance we never would have been able to recover from the consequences of the floods,” Dr. Drnda said.
Aside from rehabilitating public buildings in Maglaj, the EU has through its Floods Recovery Programme supported the economic recovery by providing recovery grants to seven SMEs, provided assistance to 18 commercial agricultural producers, reconstructed three bridges, and rehabilitated 181 private homes – with another 128 homes still in the pipeline. The rehabilitation of the local water supply network is also currently underway.
