Vučić announces extensive works in Šimanovci: New roads, sewage system, Cultural Center renovation

First of all, he said, work on the Kupinovo–Brestač road will begin as soon as possible.

“We used that road for the construction of the Fruška Gora Corridor, as well as for the Šabac–Loznica project, and then we forgot to restore or renovate precisely that road, which we needed most for the most important and largest infrastructure projects,” Vučić said.

He added that after that, a sewage system would be built in Kupinovo through a World Bank program, which is important for the entire Obedska area.

“I believe people will be satisfied. As for Šimanovci, we can renovate the Cultural Center here, and I think that will be important for the people here. I promised this before, but we haven't done it: we are building a school in Pećinci. We have built two kindergartens in the municipality, but this is something we haven't done. What we have done seems as though it has always been there. We also need to renovate and expand the school in Popinci, and then I believe people will be satisfied,” Vučić said.

When residents pointed out that they also needed a gymnasium in Ašanja, Vučić replied that he was aware of it, but that 120 million dinars, or about one million euros, would be needed.

He recalled that construction of the gymnasium began back in 2009, but after the foundations were laid, the project was halted.

Vučić asked residents what they needed in Mihaljevci, and when they said they needed a cultural center, he replied that cultural centers presented a major problem.

As he explained, the communists had wisely conceived the idea of cultural centers and built them, but no one maintained them afterward because they were not privately owned, so they gradually deteriorated.

“The state raises money to build a road, but the biggest problem is maintaining that road. We now maintain highways and expressways and spend almost 600 million euros on that. If we didn't do it, after five years it would be as if we had never built anything at all. It's the same with cultural centers. You build a cultural center in every village, and after five or ten years it is still nice and new. After that, no one replaces the windows anymore, no one replaces the joinery. It gets dirty, it deteriorates, and it belongs to no one. That is our key problem,” Vučić said.

He added that this was why the system of social ownership simply could not survive.

“A cultural center, if we can find a way to rent something to someone, so that it can generate some income, at least enough to employ a cleaner who can maintain and clean it, then it can make sense in every village. Until we find such a solution, I'm afraid we will always build something, then wait for it to deteriorate, and then wait for the state to intervene again,” Vučić said.