On Tuesday, 25 January 2011, Mayor of Mitrovica, Mr.Avni Kastrati and the Head of Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme (MuSPP) Mrs. Krystyna Galezia have signed the Agreement of Cooperation for the implementation of the Capital Investment Project (CIP) for Mitrovica,“Lushta River Green Corridor”.

Green corridors along the city’s rivers are the most significant concept for the improvement of the city's green and blue landscape, and as such, are featured in the Municipal Development Plan. The Lushta River is the one that actually enters the city centre. Its connections with the urban road and the city centre are improvised and difficult to use.

The aim of this capital investment project is to make a strong contribution to the creation of the Lushta river green corridor, by strengthening its function as a non-motorized transport corridor through the improvement of its interconnection with the urban road and path network. With improvement of the path, it will serve as an important link for non-motorised transport, providing a safe, quick access to the centre for the residents of the southern neighbourhoods and for those living in the centre to reach the pastoral, semi-rural landscape around the Lushta in the south as well as the countryside beyond. The largest intervention will take place at the Teuta/Selaci crossroad in the city centre, where the Lushta River vanishes under the central avenue. Other interventions are the improvement of connections to the city footpath network at the Southern end of the river bank, the removal of obstacles on the riverbank, creating of new public realm with various urban features. The project has been developed and conducted jointly with municipality in close cooperation with residents, civil society organizations also representing people with special needs and public utilities, in the series of consultation meetings and workshops.

In his opening speech, Kastrati thanked UN-HABITAT for the continuous support to Mitrovica municipality in addressing important issues of urban planning and management, highlighting the good cooperation with this organization.

Kystyna Galezia, Head of MuSPP expressed her satisfaction for the good cooperation and signing of the agreement for implementation of the project that has been acknowledged as very important for the city.

“Lushta river green corridor” is a 50/50 co-funded project by Municipality of Mitrovica and the Municipal Spatial Planning Support Programme, Phase2 (MuSPP2) of UN-HABITAT in Kosovo, financed by the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. The project cost is estimated to be around 300 000 US $.