Nearly 400,000 euros will be necessary to invest to make ten facilities in the next two years for the accessibility of disabled persons. According to the Action Plan of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MORT), published at the last session of the Government in 2018, the architectural barriers will be removed in the building of the president, the Government, the administrative building of the state authorities in Vektra building, the Transport Department, the Ministry of Culture, the old building of the Government, the state authority building in Mojkovac and the Customs Administration building. Most money, as stated in the document, should be invested in adjusting the president's building, about 100,000 euros, as well as removing architectonical barriers in the Customs Administration Building - about 70,000. Adaptations in the buildings owned by the state, in which the work is performed by the legislative, judicial and executive authorities, relate, inter alia, to the installation of ramps, the installation of lifts, the installation of tactile bands, the provision of parking and the adaptation of the toilets for persons with disabilities.
The initial estimated cost of the Ministry led by Pavle Radulović, amounted to nearly half a million euros (468,000).
Up to 100,000 savings (362,740) occurred after a meeting with NGOs dealing with the protection of rights of persons with disabilities.
They suggested that existing ramps should not be removed as well as that those that do not have a good slope and that are not in accordance with the regulations should not be reconstructed.
At the NGO's proposal, out of 10 facilities planned for the adaptation plan, the building of the president, the old building of the Government, the Customs Administration and the state authority building in Mojkovac have been prioritized.
The production of technical documentation for the adaptation of these buildings, as quoted by MORT, will cost 46,000 euros, and the funds will be provided from the capital budget for this year.
Funding costs of EUR 251,170 will be provided only one year later. The Directorate for Public Works is in charge of the realization.
Approximately 65,000 euros for removing architectural barriers in the remaining six buildings will be secured by the 2019 and 2020 Budget Management Directorate.
Radulovic said that the estimates of necessary funding for the adaptation of objects in public use are provisional, and that final amounts will be known only after the technical documentation has been completed.
Patron of the Human Rights and Freedom Šućko Baković repeatedly warned that disabled persons are one of the most vulnerable categories of society.
Full enjoyment of human rights and the prevention or elimination of discrimination against persons with disabilities are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms from the year 2000.
Text by Damira Kalac, on January 22nd 2019, read more at Vijesti
