December 30^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met today with the best employees of the city emergency services who were recognized for their devotion and selfless dedication to their everyday work and responding to the emergency situations. “The City of Nis traditionally rewards the best individuals of the Police Department, Fire Department, the Special Police Department and the Health Care Emergency Service. These institutions are an important part of the system of our city, without which none of us could feel safe or sleep peacefully. I would like to use this opportunity to thank you for showing courage and professionalism in the performance of your duties, in saving human lives, fighting crime and preserving law and order. With these symbolic gifts, we want to give recognition to your selfless dedication and express our special respect for your work. The City of Nis, as before, will be a reliable partner in all your future efforts for the benefit of our city and our fellow citizens. Better security for our citizens is our common task and a common obligation”, said Mayor Bulatovic on this occasion.

December 30^th

Dear fellow citizens,

We are together on the same task. We create a better future. The opportunities for our city that will be created in the year ahead depend on our efforts and dedication. I am positive that Nis is moving forward. We will continue to improve o0ur community with all available capacities because our priority is better quality of life for all citizens of Nis. The regulation of our city in the communal and urban sector is a constant challenge for us and we are ready to enrich our city’s offer with new projects. We are working, but we will work even more intensively to revive the economy and create the conditions for new investments. At the same time, we take into account the fact that we are working according to the city budget, to which we contribute together, not forgetting those who need help most, since Nis and Nis citizens have always shown solidarity. All my life I have always been an optimist, so I look in the same way at the years ahead. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but I firmly believe in our mutual success. The city is managed by the preservation of its traditions and cultural heritage, knowledge, nobility, sports success, community, but also the love and courage to change. The future that is before us will show the strength and beauty of this city in the smile of our children, in the success of the young, in new jobs, in the tranquility of parents and the elders, in the care of every man and member of our community. Let us be unique. Let the wish for peace and better tomorrow unite us. May the New Year bring peace, health and joy to all of you and may your New Year’s and Christmas holidays be filled with joy, warmth and hope for a better tomorrow, I wish to you all a successful and happy New Year 2017.

December 27^th

Creative students of Nis primary and secondary schools, who had the best ideas at the competition for the best conceptual solution within the campaign Drugs Yuck, were awarded today. The aim of this activity was the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the presentation of life values ​​such as friendship, love, and so forth. Nis City Council Member for Sports and Youth Branislav Kacar, who presented the awards, stated on this occasion that the health of young people was one of the strategic components in the national and local youth strategy and that addiction diseases posed a serious problem. He emphasized that local self-government was making efforts to enable young people to grow up in a healthy environment in which they could create a better world. He announced that the training for young people and their parents and teachers would be organized next year so that we could preventably, together, act against the addiction diseases.

December 27^th, 2016

The Award Committee of the City of Nis adopted the following decision at the session held on December 26^th, 2016:

The Decision to deliver the highest award of the City of Niš, “11^th January Award”

December 27^th

The adaptation of the Nis Airport Constantine the Great Building, which was built 30 years ago, started today. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the Members of the Nis City Council Milos Milosevic and Igor Vojinovic visited the works. On this occasion, Mayor Bulatovic said that, for the first time after three decades, some investment were made into adaptation of the airport building financed from the city budget. “The adaptation of the roof and the roof structure will be done, the isolation of the building itself, the light domes, in one word the airport building will get a completely new look and I am sure that, after the completion of the works, the arrival in Nis and the first encounter with the city will be better for everyone.” He emphasized that the value of the total works that would be carried out during this and next year on the adaptation of the airport building, the renovation of the counters and the technical equipment of the airport will be 37 million dinars. City of Nis allocated 35 million dinars, while the rest of the funds were provided by Nis Airport itself. “Next week, there will be 2 more passenger and baggage check-in counters installed and  in this way, theairport staff will be able to serve a larger number of passengers in less time, because now, when we have 9 regular lines, we need to reduce crowds and waiting in lines. We will continue to invest next year. A new power supply unit will be purchased for the supply of airplanes, as well as X-rays to check luggage, which will also ensure safety at the airport at a much higher level. The airport is important not only for Nis but for the development of the entire southeastern Serbia and our strategic commitment is further development of air transport and investment in modernization of the airport, “the Mayor concluded.

December 26^th

The contract was signed between the Novak Djokovic Foundation, the City of Nis and the Preschool Institution Pcelica on the adaptation of the old school for the kindergarten in the Medosevac settlement. Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur signed the contract on the behalf of the City of Nis together with Gorana Džudža Jakovljević from Novak Djokovic Foundation and Zoran Jonic from Preschool Institution Pcelica. This contract is the introduction into one of the projects that were selected at the competition in the period from November 20^th to December 20^th last year. The funds will be invested in the reconstruction and adaptation of preschool and school facilities, as well as the purchase of necessary furniture and equipment for children from 20 cities across Serbia. Projects will also include facilities in municipalities affected by floods during 2014 and 2016, and the adaptation of spaces in underdeveloped environments.

December 26^th, 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, “11^th 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 29^th 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.

December 23^rd

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic extended his congratulations on the occasion of celebrating Christmas by Gregorian calendar wishing that the Christmas would bring mutual understanding, respect and tolerance. My wish for you is to spend this holiday in good mood, health and joy, and at the same time, I wish you a lot of success and personal happiness“, said Mayor Bulatovic.

December 23^rd

Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur met today with the students of Nis primary and secondary schools who won one of the first three places at official national and international competitions as individuals or team and presented to them traditional city awards. Given that competitions organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development are held after the deadline for awarding the “St. Vitus Day Awards”, another round of awards was organized today. Deputy Mayor Bandjur said on this occasion that the awards were symbolic, but that they were certainly an incentive for further work and promotion. He congratulated all the winners and thanked them for representing their schools and the Nis in a worthy way, noting that the Commission for the Encouragement of Talented Students did not have an easy task in choosing the best. He especially emphasized that he believed that many of these young, talented fellow citizens would be successful scientists or professors in the future, and that the intellectual potential of young people in Nis was remarkable. In addition, the City of Nis allocated a total of 2 734 000 dinars for the St. Vitus awards for this year, and a total of 288 students were awarded.

December 22^nd

Nis City Council Member for Sports and Youth met today with the students of the Nis Faculty of Economics who won the second place at the international marketing competition held in the Portuguese City of Porto and congratulated them on excellent placement in Porto and expressed the readiness of the city to recognize the work of young and talented people and help in accordance with the possibilities. The Delegation of the Nis students was also assisted by the Nis City Youth Office as well as some of the city’s public companies. In the competition of 37 teams, young team from Nis won the second place, and their work presented a good practice of using marketing tools on the example of a successful company from Nis.