Loznica and seven other municipalities – Mali Zvornik, Osečina, Ljubovija, Bajina Bašta, Krupanj, Nova Varoš and Priboj are one of the first inter-municipal partnerships and have teamed up to better manage the risks of natural disasters, stated Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Branko Ružić.
These municipalities have received 38,000 Swiss francs from the Fund for Inter-Municipal Cooperation for the establishment of a system for collecting, exchanging and presenting data on risks and for creating an internet platform with data on potential risks.
The Minister attended the ceremonial handing over of equipment for launching that platform, which shall enable an interactive approach in communication between citizens, the economy and the Emergency Situations Headquarters. The following equipment was procured: hardware and software with associated licenses for entering collected data and devices for collecting data in the field.
“Citizens shall have the opportunity to report or receive information about potential risks”, highlighted the minister.
He assessed that inter-municipal partnerships in Serbia will be increasingly important in the coming period and that this is just the beginning, which is both an incentive and an example for other local self-governments to unite.
He reminded that the amendments to the Law on Local Self-Government envisage the possibility of inter-municipal cooperation.
“In light of the reforms and challenges facing Serbia, this type of cooperation between cities and municipalities is a way to solve key issues for which local self-governments do not have enough capacity on their own, namely it is necessary to include more cities and municipalities”, he added.
He also reminded that in June of this year, the first inter-municipal partnerships were formed, which proves that the law and the opportunities it provides are being applied – namely, 33 cities and municipalities have associated into four partnerships.
Support for this project was provided by the Government of Switzerland, which allocated 117,000 Swiss francs as support for 33 local self-governments to implement the first joint projects.