Mihajlovic: Clear picture of damage in 10 days

BELGRADE - Zorana Mihajlovic, Serbia's deputy prime minister and minister of construction and infrastructure, said on Monday that, in 10 days' time, authorities will get a final and clear picture of the damage that local self-governments sustained during the recent severe flash floods, noting that the repair of the critical infrastructure and return of the people to their homes before winter constitute a priority for the state.

In a live broadcast on Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS), Mihajlovic noted that the total damage, direct and indirect, will be close to the estimates by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), that being around EUR 2 billion.

It is realistic to expect that all roads will be repaired by October, she said, adding that the public enterprise "Roads of Serbia" will not only work on the first and second category roads, meaning national and regional roads, but they will also repair local roads that were practically within the competence of local self-governments.

The state of Serbia will repair all local and national roads, the deputy prime minister said.

Teams comprising domestic professionals, civil engineers from the construction directorate, chamber of engineers and foreign experts will once again go through all the materials that local-self governments have sent, the minister said.

The rebuilding of the destroyed houses is a priority for local self-governments, while the infrastructure, electric power system, road and railway infrastructure are vital for the state of Serbia, and entire Serbia, Mihajlovic stressed.

According to Mihajlovic, Obrenovac has so far provided only a part of the required documents, noting that, based on preliminary reports, the damage...