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THE MAYOR AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE CITY OF NIS HAVE SUMMARIZED THE RESULTS

December 26th, 2016
The Mayor of the City of Niš, Mr. Darko Bulatovic and the Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rade Rajkovic held a press conference in the presence of numerous guests, at which they summarized the results of their five-month operation.

 

“After five months of work, I have to say that we have been trying to meet your needs, to solve the problems one at a time, by giving our professional and personal maximum and by being guided by the interests of the city and each individual citizen. At the beginning of my term of office, I have promised to do everything in my power to contribute together with my team to the happiness, pride and satisfaction of our citizens so that they can exercise their rights through the administrations within local-self government, which will be organized differently; my goal is that we all do the right things for the city and the citizens in order to live better.

 

After five months of work we have created some preconditions for it. We have enacted the new Statute of the city and adopted the real possible budget for the year of 2017. We are trying to finish the work on the improvement of the essential urban traffic. We are expecting the arrival of new investors. The City of Niš possesses a qualified workforce and this is something that has to be our advantage for attracting investors and for opening new factories and jobs. We are expecting the realization of the project that has been discussed over decades ago. Finally, the works on the relocation of the railway from the city center should start. The funds for the expropriation, which will be conducted during 2017, have been allocated. We should also start the arranging of the new pedestrian zone next year. We are planning to relocate the market in the coming years in order to present Fortress, which is undoubtedly our enormous tourism potential, at its best and to maximize the use of all the facilities that it can provide to the city and its citizens. Indeed, this is only one part of what we have been doing. The citizens have closely monitored our work, given the fact that we have been meeting almost every day, both in the field and in the City Hall, where we have tried to listen to all those who have contacted us and to solve their problems.

 

The more is yet to come. The citizens have entrusted us with an important task to take care of the city and create better conditions for life in it. We are trying and we will try to justify the trust given, to listen to the needs and wishes of our neighbors and to jointly create custom-made Niš for those who live in it.

 

I take this opportunity to thank the citizens for their patience and understanding, to thank my associates who supervise my activities as well as the activities of the city councilors, so that everything should go best.
I’ve always been an optimist throughout my life, and in the same way I look at the years ahead. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us but I firmly believe in our joint success. The city is run by preserving its tradition and cultural heritage, by knowledge, by nobility, by sport successes, by communion, but also by love and courage to change and grow.

 

“I wish you a successful and happy New Year, may it bring peace, health and joy, and may your New Year and Christmas holidays be filled with joy, warmth and hope of a better tomorrow”, said the Mayor of the City of Niš, Mr. Darko Bulatovic.

 

The Chairman of the Assembly of the City of Niš, Mr. Rade Rajkovic, at the beginning of his speech, announced the names of the winners of the highest award of the City of Niš, “11th January Award”. This year’s winners of the highest award of our city are:
– The Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš;
– The National Library “Stevan Sremac” Niš,
– The Prizren Seminary “St. Cyril and Methodius “Niš;
-Mr. Bojan Jovanovic, a scientific advisor- anthropologist;
– Mr. Aleksandar Grbović, Head of the Penal and Correctional institution in Niš.

 

“From today’s point of view, I think that the success of all Nis citizens in 2016 is the fact that we have chosen a government that serves citizens. We set ambitious goals from the outset in order to be an example to other cities in Serbia and in the region. The Assembly of the City of Nis held, apart from the constitutive session on June 29th this year, a total of 8 sessions, each of which had a comprehensive agenda and constructive approach to work. During the conduct of the Assembly, I took care that the councilors and I, above all, respected the laws and all legal acts, and maintained a level of democratic discussion as well.

The difference of opinion is a reflection of democracy and political culture, so I did not allow suppression of critical thinking and constructive attitudes, of both government and opposition, despite the fact that I belong to the ruling party.

 

I want to emphasize that the City Assembly had continuous and correct cooperation with the executive part of the government, with whom we have coordinated and synchronized activities, so that the agenda included all the proposals of the City Council.

 

As valuable work principles we have set: transparency, commitment and legality. Therefore I developed a practice to regularly hold consultative meetings with the heads of the parliamentary groups, which has now become standard practice and it has already given positive results. In the end, given the cause of today’s meeting, I would like to wish a happy New Year and Christmas holidays to all of you present today and to all Nis citizens, with the assurance that the City of Niš in 2017 will be better, nicer, safer and happier place to live”, said Mr. Rajkovic.