Prishtina, 31 October 2008
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo held its 42nd regular meeting in which it agreed to go ahead with the project to build ‘Hydrocentral Zhur’.
To open the meeting, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, mentioned the developments over the past week, in particular, he made mention of completion of the final proposal for the 2009 budget plan, which is to be approved by the Kosovar Government on its next meeting.
The Prime Minister said that the planned budget for the upcoming year is fully harmonized with local and international institutions and that it represents a realistic plan for expenditure and investment in the coming year.
The Prime Minister reemphasized the position of the Kosovar Government for the unconditional implementation of the mission of the European Union in Kosovo, EULEX, across the whole territory of Kosovo.
The Government decided to go ahead with the “Hydrocentral Zhur” project, based on a model of public-private partnership. The Government based this decision on the Kosovar Energy Strategy (2005-2015) and the commitments pursuant to the Treaty on the Establishment of an Energy Community in South-Eastern Europe, by which the EU policies for the energy sector must be implemented. These require that by 2020, at least 20% of energy produced must be from renewable resources (water, wind, biomass, etc.). Kosovo currently produces only 3% of its energy from renewable resources. The Prime Minister considered this project to be important and emphasized the commitment of the Kosovar Government for its implementation. Current calculations suggest that approximately 300 million euros will be invested in this project, and that approximately 300MVh of electrical energy will be generated by the project. For the project’s implementation, an inter-ministerial Governing Committee will be created which will review the implementation of the project and will regularly report to the Kosovar Government on the progress of its implementation.
In today’s meeting, the cabinet decided to allocate financial resources for the functioning of the Procural Review Body, and agreed on the importance of the operation of this important body. Also approved was the proposal of the Ministry of Trade and Industry that the Department of Engineering and Building Management Services be given permission to finish planned works in the areas of building, architecture, electrics, machinery, hydro-technology and design. Permission will only be valid for planned works, which serve the needs of Kosovo’s central and local institutions.
On the request of the Ministry of Public Services, a commission was formed to oversee the transition of the sites of the Kosovo Protection Corps to management by the Ministry of Public Services. The commission will be made up of representatives of the Ministry of Public Services, the Kosovo Protection Corps, the Security Force Ministry and the Ministry of Local Government.
The Government also agreed on the Draft-Decision to allow for the use of resources from the Bilateral Agreement programme which will enable the use of these financial resources for student scholarships.
Administrative Instruction no. 01/2008 on the Payment of the Staff working on the Population Census was agreed upon by the Government during today’s meeting.
The Government also agreed on a package of Draft-Decisions for changes to Kosovo’s fiscal policies including the Draft-Decision for changing UNMIK Regulation no. 2001/11 on Value Added Tax (VAT), related to the taxation rates of the VAT, the Draft-Decision for changing UNMIK Regulation no. 2004/51 on the Taxation of Corporate Income, changing the taxation levels on corporate income from 20% to 10%, the Draft-Decision for changing UNMIK Regulation no. 2004/52 on Taxation on Individual Income, and the Draft-Decision for changing UNMIK Regulation no. 2007/13 on the rate of excise tax
Last modified: July 31, 2022