18.04.2019.
The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds also contributed to the project with 364 thousand kunas, while the Town of Drniš participated with HRK 271 thousand.
“In order to apply the Project for the construction of the recycling yard for EU funding as smoothly as possible, you first used the option of national co-financing and you were granted HRK 81 thousand from the Fund to prepare the project documentation. In addition, you will be provided with the containers for separate collection of waste after the completion of the integrated procurement procedure conducted by the Fund on behalf of 407 towns and municipalities, so the citizens of Drniš will have at their disposal the utility infrastructure for separating waste in their households,” said Maja Rajčić from the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund at the opening event.
In 2017, the Town of Drniš applied to the Call for Proposals for the project “Construction of recycling yards” under the Operational Programme “Competitiveness and Cohesion” 2014 – 2020, and later on it signed the Grant Agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.
The goal of the project is to construct and equip the recycling yard, which will contribute to an increase in the rate of separately collected municipal waste, and at the same time reduce the quantity of landfilled waste. Numerous information and education activities for adults and children respectively were carried out under the project. The recycling yard will fulfil the required legal requirements, it will contribute to the recycling rate, and improve the quality of life of the citizens of Drniš.
The recycling yard commissioning ceremony was led the mayor of Drniš, Josip Begonja, MA, Maja Rajčić from the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, and Goran Pauk, head of Šibenik-Knin County.
“We have completed one out of a total of 11 EU projects which Drniš is implementing. I hope that by the end of the year we will get the containers for separate waste collection for households, which is at national level managed by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. We hope we will successfully procure a mobile recycling yard for our villages, so that the people living there will also have the option to separate waste. Financially speaking, it is not a large project, but for a small town like Drniš, which has modest fiscal capacity, every cent from EU funds counts and ensures one step forward,” said the mayor of Drniš, Josip Begonja.
“The preparation and implementation of these projects is extremely complex, but we have proved that we have the knowledge and capability. Completion of this project is just a small step forward, but the one indicating that we are steadily moving toward our goal – waste management. Because successful waste management is the main element of modern life and development we are all striving for,” said Mr. Pauk, head of County.
Besides this, HRK 6.5 million has been invested in the area of the town of Drniš through energy renovation of houses and use of renewable energy sources in the previous period, while under the EU call for energy renovation of multi-residential buildings four buildings in Drniš were granted co-financing in the amount of HRK 5 million. “This is the best indicator of the interest and awareness of the citizens of Drniš, so I believe that similar success will be achieved in forming a sustainable waste management system, starting with frequent visits to this recycling yard”, concluded Mrs. Rajčić.
