UNMIK/PR/298
SRSG Bernard Kouchner on Friday re-opened the Germia swimming pool, which is now available for public use on a daily basis from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The swimming pool in Germia Park had been closed for rehabilitation for the past year. Some 350,000 DM was raised as a United Nations Quick Impact Project to repair and beautify the pool and its grounds.
The administrative Departments of Sports and Utilities along with the Municipality of Pristina, the Kosovo Protection Corps, French CIMIC and EU experts were involved in the rehabilitation.
SRSG Kouchner told hundreds of children waiting to swim that he hoped the premises would be used by the youth of Kosovo in happiness and tolerance and that the pool would stand as a symbol for the freedom of Kosovo.
"The future of Kosovo is tolerance," Dr. Kouchner said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "That is done by offering your hands to other communities, by democracy and by lots of hard work.
With a 28-million-litre capacity, the Germia pool is one of the largest in Europe.