MRKONJIĆ: Construction of 20,000 apartments starts in March 2010

The Minister of Infrastructure of Serbia, Milutin Mrkonjić, announced on Friday (March 14, 2009) that construction of about 20,000 apartments in the vicinity of Belgrade should start in March 2010. Majority of citizens of Serbia will find the prices of these apartments very favorable.

- The Government's commission that is preparing the whole material for mass residential construction will have the meeting with the Government of Serbia at the beginning of September - he said to the press after the meeting with the representatives of several local building companies in the Government of Serbia.

Mrkonjić said that the Government of Serbia would back that project by providing subsidized mortgage loans, and he added that those apartments would be available to "all citizens".

According to his words, the price per square meter will be lowered to suit the purchase power of citizens, so they could pay the loan installments instead of rent.

The Minister of Infrastructure did not say how much these apartments would cost, but he said that, for start, they would be built in Belgrade's suburbs where the current price per square meter amounted to 500-600 EUR.

Mrkonjić did not specify what was in the working version of the programme for mass residential construction, but he said that one of the ideas was that "the land owned by the Army should be put at the disposal of the building companies".

He estimated that construction of 20,000 - 30,000 apartments would cost about 500-600m EUR, and that about 100,000 people could get jobs during the realization of the project, which should last for one year.

The President of the Chamber of Commerce of Belgrade, Milan Janković, said that local self-governments would be of great assistance in construction of apartments if they accelerated issuing of permits.

The representative of building company "Deneza", Dragan Mijatović, said that the rule everywhere in the world was that the price of square meter of housing space equalled the amount of good salary in the country.

He is of the opinion that that can be achieved in Serbia with the commencement of construction in suburban locations, which are not exclusive, as well as through allotment of state-owned locations to the building companies at favorable prices.

The representatives of building industry said that the price of location represented 25-30% of the price of apartment.

The owner of "Gemax", Đorđo Antelj, said that the civil engineering in Serbia was in very difficult position, and that "we must think about beginning of mass residential construction".

Antelj said that "construction of apartments in Belgrade is four times smaller now than one year ago", and that the manufacturers of building materials had to stop production and send their employees to forced vacation.

As it was explained at the meeting, the reason for the initiative for commencement of massive residential construction is direct influence on larger production and employment in more than 30 industrial branches.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of "Energoprojekt" holding, companies "Napred" and "Građevinar Kocić", as well as the President of the Group of manufacturers of building materials within the Chamber of Commerce of Belgrade.