The opening ceremony of the public review of draft- Municipal Development Plan 2010-2023+ started on Friday 15th of October in the restaurant “Oda e Junikut” in Junik. The event gathered more than 150 people who were eager to see the presentation of the draft MDP. The MDP was drafted by the municipal staff of Junik from the Municipal Directorate for Urbanism, Geodesy and Environment, and it was supported by the Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme (MuSPP), Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) and Institute of Spatial Planning (ISP) within the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning.   The public review of MDP will be open until 15 December 2010. The public review gives a chance to inhabitants and different stakeholders to provide their views, comments, and raise issues as well as provide proposals to the plan before this plan is sent to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning for consent and the final approval by the Municipal Assembly of Junik.

In his opening speech the Mayor of Junik, Mr. Agron Kuqi, mentioned the importance of the MDP which is the first and most important document drafted by the municipal staff. The process of drafting the plan allowed the municipal staff to build their capacities for future planning activities. Mr. Kuqi also expressed his gratitude towards MuSPP, CHwB and ISP the institutions and agencies that assisted and supported this process. He also gave credit for the work to the previous local government that initiated this process on 2009. In her opening remarks the Head of UN-HABITAT Kosovo, Mrs. Krystyna Galezia, emphasized the most important segment of the MuSP Programme, which is the capacity building, and in this case without any doubt the Junik MDP represents its success story.

The meeting was honoured by the staff of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, the Minster’s advisor Mr. Husnija Beshkovic, representatives of different international and national agencies and institutions , Kosovo municipalities, Kosovo Police,  Regional Development Agency RDA West and EULOG both funded by ECLO, World Food Programme FAO, OSCE, KFOR. Using this occasion the German Agency - GTZ expressed commitment and willingness for cooperation and implementation of projects in youth sector. This initiative will correspond very well to the school upgrading project currently underway, which is co-funded by the municipality of Junik and MuSPP.

Municipality of Junik is the first municipality in Kosovo which took a different approach to draft the Municipal Development Plan (MDP). Contrary to the general practice of outsourcing the plans to local and/or international companies, which often involves high cost, Junik did it mainly with its own resources.

The Junik MDP is a comprehensive, multi-sectoral document that aims to provide clear vision and goals on future spatial development if this territory.

Draft-Municipal Development Plan of Junik 2010 – 2023+ Download