UNMIK/PR/1399
PRISTINA – During a visit to Plementina camp earlier today, PDSRSG Larry Rossin announced that UNMIK would commit 200,000 euros for construction of housing facilities at the camp for families who do not own property, matching a similar contribution by the PISG.
The PDSRSG and Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi symbolically laid some concrete in the foundation at the construction site. They also paid a brief visit to a family living in the camp.
Addressing media at the event, the PDSRSG said a lot had been done by UNHCR and other implementing partners to develop a strategy to close the camp and a co-ordinated approach was needed so all those living in Plementina could eventually settle in real homes. He expressed satisfaction with the government’s decision to allocate funds for the project and hoped the initiative would be a catalyst for full funding of all activities needed to move those currently residing there to their homes in various areas of Kosovo, and close the camp permanently.
Mr. Rossin stressed that UNMIK “not only looked for talk but also for concrete actions in implementing the Standards, such as in returns and other different areas… Putting concrete into the foundation of this new housing project for people living in Plementina camp is concrete action and is the kind of initiative that, in partnership with the government, UNMIK is happy to support”.
The initiative was also an indication of the seriousness with which the government of Kosovo, under the Prime Minister’s and his predecessor’s leadership, was responding to the challenges posed to Kosovo, with regards to implementing the Standards and in the way it was dealing with the consequences of the war, by “putting Kosovo on a sound footing for all its people so they could look forward to a better future,” the PDSRSG noted.
The Plementina camp currently houses more than 450 displaced people.