By CPO Tim Adams
First published in
SFOR Informer #86, April 26, 2000

Sarajevo - The relatively small, 15-person Italian CIMIC (Civil Military) Unit (ICU) is having a huge impact on Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) when you consider the number of significant building projects they are involved with in various communities and SFOR camps. They have been responsible for completing the dining facility and other construction projects at Butmir 2000 along with new electrical lines and more construction work at Tito Barracks. But the list of accomplishments gets longer when you look at the many civilian schools and medical centres they have already rebuilt and the others they are in the process of rebuilding now.

The most recent school completed is the primary school of Miljevina, in the Republika Srpska, near Foca. The ICU had to arrange the installation of a new roof, rain gutters, windows, electrical wiring, water, and sanitary fittings in the facility. The total cost was 97,000 DM. The ICU's engineering and technical staff developed the plans for the work while the budget and finance people wrote up the proposals to get funding from the European Community. Local contractors submitted bids to perform the actual physical labour in compliance with the engineering designs. "Due to the fact that these types of projects may encourage local authorities to take the proper steps to become compliant with the Dayton Peace Accords, this project was of great interest to the European Community," said Capt. Biagio Ferraro, Civil Infrastructure Engineer with the ICU. He is also the officer in charge of the Miljevina school project.

Ferraro said he received a great deal of personal satisfaction from the project because he did something important for the 153 pupils and 20 teachers who now have a good facility to work in. He also said the restored school would encourage people to return to their homes in the area. "The local community can grow, so the number of pupils will increase. That is another reason why it was important to repair the school building quickly."

The ICU has another 30 projects in various stages on its agenda. They are completing repair work on schools in Ilijas, Mokro, Praca, Vogosca and the Hresa School in Sarajevo. They are also finishing medical centres in Goradze, Kalinovick, Pale, and Rogatica. Fifteen houses and two roads in Goradze, along with three tunnels, are other parts of the ICU's workload right now. "The projects are equally distributed between the Republika Srpska and the Federation," concluded Ferraro. "It's important that the work is equal."