F.A.T.E. From Army to Entrepreneurship

Transcription

1 F.A.T.E. From Army to Entrepreneurship Action 3.4 Assessment of military brown-fields Osijek Baranja County PARTNER ORGANISATION Partner institution: Regional Development Agency of Slavonia and Baranja Elaborated by: Centre for Entrepreneurship Osijek

2 Assessment of military brown-fields in Osijek Baranja County The process of restructuring the Croatian Army started in Defence reforms in Croatia, and generally in the Western Balkans, have been driven by external actors, such as NATO, the EU, the US and European countries. National institutions played only a subordinate role in guiding reforms, while few NGOs were involved in security matters and able to provide civilian expertise. The defence reforms in Croatia were surely provoked by a high defence spending cuts and have resulted in a significant downsizing and rationalisation of the military structures and personnel, which surely contributed to the stabilisation of the wider region. At the beginning of 1992 the Croatian government has granted the management and the use of 511 barracks, warehouses, polygons, but also forests and meadows, to the Croatian Army. The remaining number of ex-military sites (146) was transferred to the local and regional administrations and to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Right after the end of the Homeland war, it became clear that more than a half of military sites present an unnecessary cost. Ministry of Defence had only the high maintenance and overhead costs that were for a long of time a heavy weight on a defence budget, and by the same time a huge dead state capital. The Yugoslav Army use to hold the strategic military locations in the cities, while the vision of the Croatian Army was to transfer the military sites on the borderline of the urban areas. This has created a potential space for the economic development in the cities. By the year 2009, the Croatian Ministry of Defence has transferred to the Croatian State more than 200 military sites (out of 511), which were then sold, given in a concession or converted. Last estimations indicate that only one third of total number of military sites is needed for the functioning of restructured Croatian army system. Defence reforms have also brought an absence of major unrest from discharged military personnel and the denationalisation of armed forces. Furthermore, Croatia s separated personnel care and transition programme (SPECTRA) was well-designed and well-implemented, and was successful in reintegrating discharged military personnel. The bases for the actions were the several strategic documents brought on the national level: - National Security Strategy of the Republic of Croatia (2002) - Strategic Defence Review (2005) - Long-term plan of development of armed forces of the Republic of Croatia for the period (2006) Long-term plan of development of armed forces of the Republic of Croatia is for sure the most important document for the process of military brown-fields restructuring. It clearly states which military sites are planned to be abandoned by the year 2015, and which sites are planned for the conversion. Out of 24 military barracks and other sites planned to be abolished, 5 are based in Osijek Baranja County. These are: 1. Command Osijek 2. Barrack Drava (the remaining part), Osijek 3. Barrack Dračice, Đakovo 4. Barrack Našice, Našice 5. Barrack Beli Manastir, Beli Manastir

3 Four, out of the five sites are still under the management of the Croatian Army (Barrack Drava is transferred). Therefore all of the detailed information about the barracks is not available, and is still considered to be the military secret. In the meantime from the elaboration of the Longterm strategy (2006), the Croatian government has formed a working group for the registration and categorisation of the unperspective military real estates. The working group was formed in 2009 in order to review the previously selected sites and to speed up the conversion and the transfer process. Members of the working group are the representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Office of the President, Croatian privatisation fund and Central State Administrative Office for State Property Management. The work is still in progress and they have been re-evaluating the also the usage of the 4 remaining barracks in Osijek-Baranja County. Particularly the barrack Dračice (Đakovo) has become, in its full size, a perspective site for the Croatian army. Moreover, in the last couple of years, it has strengthened its military training programmes. The city of Đakovo, on the other hand, has been actively seeking the possibilities of transferring the ownership of the Dračice barrack, but so far all of its attempts were unsuccessful. The city of Osijek has also been actively seeking the possibility to use the premises of the Command Osijek for its own purposes, as the present municipal building is much too small. So far the process has not gone any further. The same situation can be applied for Našice and Beli Manastir. As for the examples of the good practice, there have been two transfers of ownership of military brown-fields in Osijek Baranja County. The barrack Gaj (Osijek, centre) restructuring led to the creation of TERA (Technology Development Centre Osijek) and the University Department of Mathematics, Department of Physics and Department of Biology. Already mention barrack Drava (Osijek) has been restructured into the University Campus.

4 The reason for the transfer of ownership was the lack of space for the further development of the University, whose buildings and premises have suffered a great deal of destructions during the war period. Therefore the Croatian Government brought the decision to transfer the property of the two military brown-fields to the University of J.J.Strossmayer in The initiative came from Government of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, Osijek-Baranja County, city of Osijek and from the University of J.J.Strossmayer in Osijek. The ownership of the barrack Gaj (5.495,25 m2) was transferred to the University of J.J.Strossmayer on September 04 th 2001, after the lengthy procedure. Motive for the restructuring was realization of the project Set up of the Departments of Mathematics Physics and Biology. In 2002 the Senate of the University accepted the Program of Capital Investments that included the restructuring of the former military barrack Gaj. The funds for the restructuring process had been assured in the national budget, beneficiary being the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and the guarantor the University of J.J.Strossmayer Osijek. Reconstruction began in fall of In 2002 the Department of Mathematics has been put into action. The adaptation of former military barrack was fully finished in December of 2003, when the Technology Development Centre starts with its work. During year 2004 the remaining facilities have been fully equipped, and the Department of Biology and Department of Physics started with the work in the academic year 2004/2005. Restructuring of the former military barrack Gaj (Osijek)

5 Barrack Drava ( ,00 m2) was restructured in the second phase of the investment process. In 2005 the Senate adopted the II.Capital Investments Programme and the reconstruction into a new University Campus began. The campus project has been realized in several stages: the student dormitory was built in the first stage and then the space for the art academy was refurbished. This was followed by renovation of the technical studies building which is a part of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The current phase is marked by finalisation of the new Faculty of Agriculture. Many other amenities and spaces for students have also been upgraded and equipped including, inter alia, the building for the Teacher Training School and Faculty of Medicine, and some teaching departments. Preparations are also made for construction of the new Faculty of Civil Engineering.