The "Public Property Management" project, implemented by the City of Novi Sad, the Municipality of Apatin and the Public Utility Company "Informatics" Novi Sad was presented at a press conference in the City Hall, as well as the agreements of the City of Novi Sad and the Municipality of Apatin with the Republic Geodetic Authority which were signed on the occasion. The project is implemented in the framework of the Exchange 4 Program financed by the European Union, which is managed by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia and implemented by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.

The project objective is the improvement of the public property rights management process in the City of Novi Sad and the Municipality of Apatin, for the purpose of creating conditions for faster local economic development. The planned project activities will contribute to more efficient application of the Law on Public Property, which made local self-governments the holders of property rights on the properties they use. Efficiently organized property inventory and creation of an updated, digitized property data registry are crucial prerequisites for modern public property management which can bring significant benefits to local self-governments.

- From the moment the Local Economic Development Office was established, we have had dynamic activities in projects and have shown innovative project ideas, which contributed to their approval and later to the achievement of results. I am inviting local institutions to timely prepare project ideas, since an open call will soon be launched in the framework of the Croatia-Serbia IPA Cross-border Cooperation Program, and we are here to provide maximum assistance – said the Manager of the Local Economic Development Office of the City of Novi Sad, Mrs. Marijana Dukić-Mijatović. According to the Project Manager Olivera Simović, it is crucial to strengthen the capacities in the city administrations and institutions in charge of property, in order to more efficiently meet the requirements of potential investors and creation of public-private partnerships. – The project value is approximately 150.000 EUR, 112.000 EUR of which is the EU grant. I hope that the final result of this project will be another contribution to the accelerated economic development – said Mrs. Simović.

- The crucial role is that of the digitized property cadastre database for the two municipalities. Our services will put all the relevant data at the disposal of the competent city authorities, and when the time comes for the registration of the public property ownership, in the shortest legal deadline we will register the rights on the City of Novi Sad and the Municipality of Apatin – said the Head of the Property Cadaster Service Novi Sad – 2, Radovan Grujičić. The Head of the Local Economic Development Office of the Municipality of Apatin, Snežana Milešević, said that she was expecting good cooperation with the City of Novi Sad and that their previous experience in implementation of projects would contribute to continued good results.

According to the Communication Coordinator of the EU Exchange 4 Program, Željko Krnetić, the grant scheme value is 4.5 million EUR and those funds will be spent on the implementation of municipal projects in Serbia.

Novi Sad, March 19th, 2013