PM foresees more funds for capital investments

PM foresees more funds for capital investments

After holding a meeting with President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic together with Serbian government representatives on the occasion of development of a housing project for members of the security forces, Brnabic pointed out that Serbia will be able to invest more than RSD 200 billion in capital investments for the first time next year.

She said that a large portion of funds will continue to be invested in road and rail infrastructure, as well as in the three most important sectors that were discussed today, those being the housing for security forces, infrastructure in the field of health, and the development of science and innovation.

Brnabic said that all this will create additional GDP growth in 2019, and specified that investments in health will amount to as much as EUR 1 billion and that these investments will cover all community health centers and general hospitals, as well as all four clinical centers in Serbia.

The task of this government is to change the paradigm of economic growth and development of Serbia and to shift the focus from investments, which require a large number of jobs, to an economy based on innovation and knowledge, Brnabic pointed out.

In the coming years, the government will invest about €100 million in infrastructure related to innovation, research and development, as well as in the development of start-ups and scientific infrastructure.

She said that a science and technology park is currently being built in Novi Sad and added that the first phase of this project - the construction of 10,000 square meters should be completed by September next year, and that after that the construction of another 19,000 square meters is planned.

The construction of a 14,000 square-meter science and technology park in Nis will begin by the end of 2018, a tender has been completed and the approval from the European Investment Bank (EIB) obtained.

The signing of the agreement and the beginning of the construction is planned for November.

In addition, the construction of a laboratory building at the Electronic Faculty in Nis should be completed in 2019.

Brnabic said that this government, by the end of its mandate, will make Nis a center of electronic industry again.

She added that the construction of the Biosens Institute in Novi Sad will begin next year, which will be a European center of excellence in digital agriculture.

Also, one more building of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences (FON) in Belgrade will be built, and in 2020, the building of the Scientific and Technological Park in Zvezdara will be expanded and in the first phase it will get additional 4,000 square meters, the Prime Minister said.

She explained that currently in Serbia there are more than 65 companies employing more than 600 engineers, from which the state has considerable revenues since 75 percent of the production is intended for export.