UNMIK/PR/109
PRIZREN – UNMIK’s Regional Administration has begun distributing 15,000 cubic meters of firewood and 10,000 tons of coal free of charge to schools, hospitals and needy residents in the Prizren region.
The fuel, valued at 2.1 million Deutsche marks, was donated by the Japanese Government in support of UNMIK’s winterisation program.
The International Organization for Migration is organizing the distribution and selecting the beneficiaries for the project based on criteria provided by UNHCR, UNICEF, the Kosovo Red Cross, the Mother Theresa Society and international NGOS.
Priority was given to schools and hospitals followed by families with destroyed homes, families with handicapped members, poor people and minorities.
In co-operation with the local Forestry Service, five distribution sites have been opened in Dragas, Malishevo, Orahovac, Prizren and Suhareka. During the next 30 days, hundreds of trucks, tractors and vans will be deployed to deliver the wood and coal to the distribution points and from there to their final beneficiaries.
The project will infuse more than 1.2 million marks into the local economy with the purchase of coal from the KAC coal mine near Pristina, salaries to local staffers and transport fees. The firewood is being shipped from Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
