The City of Užice has announced a EUR 2 million energy efficiency investment in seven schools for 2019 as part of the energy efficiency program jointly implemented with the Swiss Cooperation Office.

Užice Deputy Mayor Nemanja Nešić said that the energy efficiency program, financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), is designed for public buildings, and in Užice this means schools.

In 2018, project documentation will be prepared, and in 2019 construction works are expected to start in the seven schools included in the program, Nešić said, adding that the investment is worth a total of EUR 2 million.

The Swiss Cooperation Office is implementing the energy efficiency program in Užice, Vrbas, Kruševac, and Paraćin.

According to Nešić, along with Kruševac, Užice is an example of good practice in implementing energy efficiency measures in Serbia. For many years now, Užice has had a problem with air pollution, especially in the winter months, and the local authorities have been implementing measures to resolve the problem.

These include measures for individual residential buildings, in the form of co-financing for thermal insulation, the replacement of windows and doors, and the purchase of boilers to use more energy-efficient fuels. The measures have been implemented for three years, with about RSD 30 million (EUR 250,000) allocated so far for 350 citizens, Nešić said, adding that around 200 more will receive co-financing this year.

There are also measures for collective residential buildings which are, according to Nešić, the first of a kind in Serbia. These measures have been implemented for two years now.

The City of Užice has enabled tenants’ associations to obtain, depending on the location and type of the building, sizable funds for facade retrofitting, to help them improve it in terms of energy, but also aesthetically. The funds are approved by the municipality even though it is tenants’ obligation under the new law to finance such investments, Nešić noted.