The northern municipalities did not apply the audience's recommendations for “Development Fund”

In this case, General Auditor Besnik Osmani said the request for auditing the Trust Development Fund ( The FZhm has come from the European Union Office in Kosovo.

The auditing of this fund and the funding itself is very specific, you know that stems from the Brussels agreement. It was his auditing challenge, considering the particular characteristics attributed to this fund. The project as such has been important to us for yet another fact, since it is an integral part of the state budget and we must have abundant information on how the” fund is being managed, Osmani said.

The general audience, Besnik Osmani, praised the dedication of institutions responsible for making necessary improvements so that FZhm's means can be effectively spent and in behalf of the citizens of municipalities in the north of Kosovo.

“We have seen a commitment of institutions involved to make improvements. This is a message you should have followed all the other institutions we audit. So I call on all of the acts to take seriously the recommendations given by the National Audition Office, because they have a common goal that this budget be used for material goods to the citizens of municipalities in the north”, Osmani stressed.

While Assistant General Auditor Vlora Spanca, presenting the main conclusions of this audit, said municipalities in the north were not very efficient in making projects financed by the Development Fund of Confidence available and in some cases were not effective.

“The main monitoring operations are that only 4 of the 13 recommendations provided have been implemented fully, 5 recommendations have been implemented in part, and 4 recommendations have not been implemented in all. So in this regard progress is limited and there is room for better management and financial control in implementing projects funded by this foundation”, Spain stressed, adding that citizens have been invited to hearings but not for FZHM-funded projects, some projects have not been completed within defined terms while there have been projects that have not yet begun to be implemented despite the fact that municipalities have had a budget available.

Meanwhile, Audition Department Leader Fatlinda Ramosaj said the audit has included the responsible institutions: The Development Fund of Trust management board, the Ministry of Finance, Kosovo Customs and the four profitable northern Mitrovica municipalities -- Leposavicin, Zvecanin and Zubin Potok.

Ramosj indicated that this audit has covered projects developed during 2017-2019, and aimed at assessing the implementation of recommendations and implementation of projects for the better of citizens.

The National Auditing Office has provided 13 recommendations, 4 for the Trust Development Fund Board, 3 for the Ministry of Finance, 1 recommendation for Kosovo Customs and 5 recommendations for municipalities in the north. The other objectives of this audit have been the effect of this fund, so how many projects financed by this fund have been implemented and made available to citizens”, Ramosaj said, adding that there are 3 new recommendations for northern municipalities and 2 recommendations for the FZhm management Board.

Further, team leader Arben Selimi and team member Armin Bushati presented in detail the findings of the performance report “Implementation of the report's recommendations: Development Fund and fund effects”.

Meanwhile, representatives of municipalities in the country's north of northern Mitrovica and the municipality of Zvecan pledged they would take into account the remarks and recommendations of Kosovo's National Audition Office, respectively, so that fund means can be used for projects to benefit the citizens of northern municipalities.

The Trust Development Fund was established in 2013 with the agreement between the European Union (BE) and the Government of the Republic of Kosovo. The Fund aims to promote social and economic development in northern Mitrovica municipalities, Zubin Potok, Leposaviq and Zvecan.