DULIC: New loan of EUR 35 million required to complete Stepa Stepanovic complex

(Oliver Dulic)

Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic stated yesterday that a new loan of about EUR 35 million for Stepa Stepanovic residential complex in Belgrade was necessary to complete that project and invited members of the Serbian parliament to support regulations enabling that.

The Parliament of Serbia yesterday started discussing 13 bills suggesting the ratification of acts on the allotment of guarantees for state's new borrowings, among which is also a guarantee for Hypo Alpe Adria Banka Belgrade and Societe Generale Banka Serbia to pay the liabilities of the Construction Directorate of Serbia, based on a loan agreement for the construction of residential and business facilities in the location of Stepa Stepanovic barracks in Belgrade.

- These are not loans for public consumption - said Dulic, adding that additional funds for Stepa Stepanovic complex were necessary to finish that project.

He noted that the global crisis had dramatically hit the economies of all countries in the world, adding that the effects on the construction industry and the property market were devastating.

That negative trend, according to his words, has not bypassed Serbia, which is why the Serbian government passed the Law on Aid to the Construction Industry in 2009 and launched several large projects to employ construction companies.

As Dulic stressed, thanks to these projects, one of which is Stepa Stepanovic complex, Serbia managed to achieve good results and end the year with 17 percent higher profit in the construction industry.