A ceremony organized at the Elementary School “Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar” in Vitkovici marked the completion of energy retrofit of that public school. The Government of the Bosnia-Podrinje Canton Gorazde, the Government of Sweden and the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation BiH allocated BAM 260,000 to improve significantly the indoor comfort for 210 pupils and school staff.

Elma Hamzic, the school principal, said that investing in education through this form of investment pays off in the long run. “Apart from creating better working conditions, also the message sent to children is important: we do care about as best comfort for children as possible, and we want children to be mindful of energy consumption so that we preserve the environment for future generations”, Ms. Hamzic said.

A new thermal façade was installed on the school and the gym, the entire external joinery was replaced and thermal insulation installed on the roof. The works were completed within the Green Economic Development (GED) Project, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

Emir Okovic, Prime Minister of the Bosnia-Podrinje Canton, extended his gratitude to the partners: the Swedish Government, the Environmental Protection Fund of FBiH and UNDP, and emphasized that out of a total of 10 public buildings in Gorazde on which energy-efficiency retrofit had thus far been done, this was a third school on which energy retrofit works had been done within the GED project.

“The environment is one of the key priorities for Sweden. The GED project, which focuses on improving energy efficiency in the public sector, is extremely useful for both the environment and pupils, and at the same time it makes big savings in the municipal and cantonal budgets”, said Marie Bergström, Head of Swedish Development Cooperation.

Sweden will continue to fund projects which contribute to environmental protection and help Bosnia and Herzegovina move forward to the European Union.

Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov, Resident Representative a.i. of UNDP in BiH, underscored that the energy retrofit of the school would provide better conditions for pupils and the staff. At the same time, it will ensure energy cost savings of up to 30-50 per cent”.

For more photos please check the following link http://bit.ly/GEDVitkovici  

The Green Economic Development Project is devoted to creating conditions for investments in increasing energy efficiency in public buildings for the purpose of making budgetary savings, increasing the number of green jobs, improving the indoor comfort for users and reinvesting saved funds, which, in turn, contributes to the country’s economic growth and environmental protection.

The Project is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with financial support from the Swedish Government, the Environmental Protection Fund of FBIH and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund of Republika Srpska, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, the entity-level Ministries of Spatial Planning, the cantonal-level ministries, municipalities and other partners.