City pharmacies in Novi Sad to operate as Benu pharmacies over the next 15 years – Concession agreement signed

The concession agreement on pharmaceutical activities at the primary level in the territory of the City of Novi Sad was signed by Mayor Milos Vucevic and the healthcare institution Apoteka Benu Beograd, represented by its director, Dejan Aleksov, and the deputy director, Zorica Malisic.

The agreement was signed based on the Law on Public-Private Partnership and Concessions, in the presence of the deputy president of the Commission for Public-Private Partnerships of the Republic of Serbia, Adrijana Jovanovic, the press release says.

At the ceremony, the agreement on the granting of concession rights for 28 city pharmacies to Benu for a period of 15 years was signed, which means that the pharmacies will get a modern look and an expanded offer.

– We have a good, socially responsible partner, with great capital and knowledge. The pharmacies which are the object of the concession will continue operating in a modernized form, and people who were employed at city pharmacies until now will work in many of them. It is them who shouldered a great burden and to them we owe gratitude that everything's been completed successfully. This is the first time in Serbia that the issue of state pharmacies is solved this way. The concessionaire offered more than the initial price and the city will get more than half a billion dinars from this large company, which took over 46 employees and kept the network of pharmacies – Vucevic said.

Benu is the largest chain of pharmacies in Serbia and part of the large international company Phoenix from Germany, which features over 2,400 pharmacies in 14 European countries.

Dejan Aleksov said that this was their first concession arrangement with state pharmacies.

– We are sure that we will justify the trust we've been given. After today's agreement comes into effect, citizens of Novi Sad will get pharmaceutical services at the highest possible European level, in well known locations in the city – Dejan Aleksov said.

The deputy president of the Commission for Public-Private Partnerships of the Republic of Serbia, Andrijana Jovanovic, said that this was the first PPP project which offers an integral solution for all state pharmacies.

– It is always in our focus to maintain the public interest, and the aim is for the private partner to provide the services to the citizens at an even greater quality. I hope that other local self-governments would follow in Novi Sad's footsteps and that we will see plenty more good examples of concessions and PPPs.

Grad Novi Sad

ZU Apoteka Benu Beograd

Commission for Public Private Partnership of the Republic of Serbia

Phoenix Germany

Milos Vucevic

Dejan Aleksov

Zorica Malisic

Andrijana Jovanovic

Law on Public Private Partnerships and Concessions

concession agreement on pharmaceutical activities at the primary level in the territory of the City of Novi Sad

Novi Sad city pharmacies concession