Fazila Azemovic, the Head of the Office for Local Economic Development in the municipality of Bujanovac, said that 16 socially-owned enterprises in Bujanovac would soon be privatized, because they were in the public offer, which was, in mid-August, sent by the Republican Agency for Privatization. Besides 11 companies that have their registered offices in Bujanovac, another five companies, which have their headquarters in other cities in Serbia, are included in the privatization process. Upon the adoption of the new Law on Privatization, the Privatization Agency submitted to the entities to be privatized in the portfolio of the Privatization Agency a public call for collecting letters of interest, which refers to the total of 502 companies in Serbia, which are either in bankruptcy or are undergoing a restructuring process, the deadline for which is September 15.  Мs. Azemovic said for the Beta news agency that the implementation of  privatization, under the new Law on Privatization, was invaluable for the municipality of Bujanovac, provided the privatization process was carried out in the positive direction and for the purpose of the actual recovery of the firms, among which, according to the municipal records, are eight formerly major socially-owned enterprises, of which only the empty halls remained now.

“We mapped out all the facilities in the municipality of Bujanovac, which were once companies and which are now only the empty decaying halls. We tried to bring in investors, but nothing more than that was in our jurisdiction, because nothing was owned by the municipality, said Ms. Azemovic. According to her, the municipality participates in the privatization process through the Office for Local Economic Development, which has its own coordinator for small and medium-sized enterprises, the economy and privatization, from whom all interested entrepreneurs receive notification of the privatization process.

“Concretely, by closing up “Jugokop”, which was the largest slaughterhouse in the Balkans that also owned vast areas of pastures and forests, the livestock in the municipality of Bujanovac was reduced very quickly. It would be a great success if all former employees of “Jugokop” could return to work”, said Ms. Azemovic.  

She stated that the municipality of Bujanovac had a great number of skilled and highly educated workforce registered with the National Employment Office, who could immediately start working.  Among the economic entities included in the call for the collection of letters of interest for privatization in the municipality of Bujanovac are Bujanovac Spa, Tobacco Industry of Bujanovac, Bujanovac Veterinary Station, “Svetlost” Batteries, Radio Bujanovac, “Prolece” and Klokot Spa, which only has a license but doesn’t own any property.  Undergoing the final stage of preparation for the privatization are the shoe factory “Gumoplastika”, “Jugokop” slaughterhouse and “Felspat” and “Jugpromet” mines. Under the new Law on Privatization, there are three “Simpo” factories in the municipality of Bujanovac, “Simpex”, “Simposan” and “Kondiva”, which are undergoing the privatization process,  as well as “Jumko’s” factory “Bi-voda” and “Crvena zastava”  in Kragujevac , which both have their headquarters outside of the municipality of Bujanovac.