Travel Kosova - Open Project

Prizren is the main town in southern Kosova and the location of UNMIK administration regional headquarters. The town plays an important role in regional business and commerce due to its geographical location, near the borders with Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYROM).

Prizren is known for its ethnic diversity and enjoys a long tradition of tolerance and inter-ethnic co-operation Approximately 221,000 people live in Prizren municipality – in both the town and 76 villages scattered throughout the municipality. After the 1999 conflict ended, it was estimated that approximately 40,000 internally displaced person (IDPs) were located in the region. However, the successful reconstruction of more than 10,000 houses has allowed the majority of refugees and IDP-s to return to their homes. During the conflict, many of the municipality’s villages were destroyed, though Prizren town escaped most of the systematic house burning. Yet, following the conflict’s conclusion, hundreds of Kosovo Serb homes were burnt and looted. In spite of this post-conflict fervour, the Prizren municipality remains the most culturally and ethnically heterogeneous municipality in Kosovo, as it is home to large communities of Bosniaks, Turks, and Roma in addition to the majority Kosovo Albanian population. Likewise, a significant number of Kosovo Serbs reside in small villages, enclaves, or protected housing complexes. The threat of ethnically motivated violence still exists, but contrary to other parts of Kosovo, Serbian is generally spoken freely in public by non-Serb minorities. Bosniaks, Turks, Roma, and Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians live in metropolitan Prizren. Although Bosniaks are the main minority group in terms of numbers, the Turkish community is socially prominent and influential. In town, Turkish is widely spoken even among Kosovo Albanians. In the northern part of Prizren, the region of Podrimlje/Podrimja, live Kosovo Albanians and Turks. The eastern part, the Podguri i Prizreni region is inhabited by Kosovo Albanians and Bosniaks. The southeast is Zupa/Zhupa Valley, inhabited primarily by Bosniaks, and partly by Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians.

Religion and Places of Worship
Approximately 94 percent of the municipality’s population is Muslim (Kosovo Albanian, Turk, Bosniak, Roma, and Ashkali), 5 percent Catholic (Kosovo Albanian) and one percent Kosovo Serb). Although all imams are members of the Prizren/Prizren Islamic Union Council, there are distinct differences between them as there are different Muslim sects. There is good co-operation between the Muslim and Catholic communities.
In the municipality of Prizren there are 24 mosques and three Catholic churches. The two Serbian Orthodox monasteries, the Orthodox Seminary and five Orthodox religious were destroyed or damaged during the March 2004 events.
Metropolitan Prizren is considered to be a mosaic of different cultures, influencing the spirit and collective character of the town. Prizren/Prizren town enjoys a Cultural House near the centre that is used for theatre performances and community gatherings and the oldest Albanian cultural association, Agimi and Turkish NGO, Dogru Yol have similar centres. The Music School and Sports Centre are open to the public. The national cultural festival, Zambak of Prizren is held annually in July and features traditional and contemporary folk music performed by Albanian and Turkish singers.

Police, Civil Protection, and Military Presence
According to UNMIK Police, the security situation is calm and quiet. Only minor offences (traffic regulations, etc) are seen. At the moment there are very rare cases of intimidation towards ethnic minorities. As a temporary measure, the curfew has been lifted during Saturdays and Sundays, which has not negatively effect the security situation in the municipality. The crime rate (burglaries, assaults, etc) is minor and decreasing. There is a local Kosovo Police Service (KPS) numbering 322, of mixed ethnic backgrounds that assists the 76 international police officers in the municipality. In regards to the transition of the responsibilities from CIVPOL to the KPS some sectors of local investigations and partly regional investigations were handed over and recently they appointed their own spokesperson in KPS. A command structure of the KPS in Prizren is compound from 1 Lieutenant Colonel and 14 Sergeants. The Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), a civil protection corps comprised of former KLA fighters, has 127 members in Prizren municipality, including minorities. It is based in Prizren town. Prizren has both German and Turkish KFOR contingents in the municipality. Both are well regarded by the population, partly because many people in the municipality are able to speak Turkish and/or German. German KFOR, in addition, has a reputation for being well organized and disciplined.

Economics
For the most part, private enterprise in the municipality is based on agriculture, trade, and food processing. Private businesses predominantly face difficulties securing capital investment from local and foreign entities. Additionally problematic is the competition from Turkey and Albania, which drives up market prices on imported products and goods. The “tax system” of 26.5% on raw materials and imports, which is currently 17%, has significantly slowed economic development. Due to financial hardships, several companies and factories have closed and others are reducing personnel. This general economic downturn contributes directly to the growing rate of unemployment and poverty, making the financial/economic viability in the region more tenuous. Many restaurants, private retail stores, and service-related businesses operate out of small shops throughout Prizren/Prizren. Larger grocery and department stores have recently opened. In town, there are eight sizeable markets, including three produce markets, one car market, one cattle market, and three personal/hygienic and housewares markets. There is an abundance of kiosks spread throughout Prizren/Prizren town selling small goods. Prizren/Prizren appears to be teeming with economic prosperity, but appearances are deceiving as the international presence is reduced and repatriation of refugees and IDPs is expected to further strain the local economy. Market saturation, high unemployment, and a reduction of financial remittances from abroad are ominous economic indicators. There are three agricultural co-operatives in three separate villages. Most livestock breeding and agricultural production is private, informal, and small-scale. There are two operational banks with branches in Prizren/Prizren, the Micro Enterprise Bank (MEB) and the Payment and Banking Authority of Kosovo (BPK).

Infrastructure
Much like the rest of Kosovo, Prizren’s lattice of roads is vital to economic prosperity. Road conditions have gradually improved due in part to large-scale investment from Germany. At present, most village roads are unpaved, but the major routes connecting Prizren proper to the village communities have been paved or are still under construction. To reduce traffic in Prizren, KFOR has constructed a bypass road for large vehicles and lorries. Congestion has decreased in the city, but continues to be problematic during peak time periods during the daytime. The traffic lights in town still do not function. The municipal Water Company, Cvileni, manages water and sewage in most areas. Development and improvement of the sewage and water system is on going supported from generous contributions from different German companies. There is a further need to expand work to the villages as well. Water pressure and supply is low in many areas of the municipality. However, co-operation between Prizren town and surrounding village communities is set to provide adequate water and sewage to a wider number of inhabitants, but more funding will need to be allocated for this to occur. The Cvileni Water Company’s out-dated machinery inhibits the supply of drinking water. A commission has been established to investigate and verify that water quality is in the required level. As 95 percent of the water system passes through old asbestos tubes, 30 percent of the drinking water is lost. A new pumping station at Sozi-Nashec with the capacity of 50 liters per second has begun work to improve water supply for surrounding villages. This year, the main sewage pipes have been repaired to ensure that water did not flood the road during rainy days. The ‘Higjiena’ municipal public works company manages the garbage collection services. Management of the garbage collection is not in the satisfactory level and they do not have capacities to cover surrounding villages that cause the pollution of rivers. The old waste disposal site in village Korisha should start closing, and a new location for waste site to serve regional needs has been identified in the area called Landovica. The municipal phone system has substantially improved with 4,000 new digital phone lines being recently installed. Up until now, 1,000 lines were installed and the remaining 3,000 will be allocated to villages that do not have telephone access. Mobile phones are operational and due to poor and unreliable landlines, there is high demand for mobile phones. Winters are marked by long periods without power because electric distribution network is very old and it requires often repairmen. Distribution with electricity goes through three transformers that are TS 110 / X kV, TS 35 / 10 15 kV and 10 / 0,4 kV with total power of 166 MVA. Conditions have improved since the war’s conclusion, but the lack of adequate electricity is a definite health and security issue. Building reconstruction is still a municipal priority. The number of damaged houses in the municipality has been substantially reduced, but a remaining 2,000 (Categories IV and V) need to be rebuilt. The European Union in conjunction with its implementing partners has rebuilt 780 of these homes since the bombing concluded. Organisations continue housing assessments to determine the percentage of homes destroyed and evaluate the level of recipient need in the Roma, Bosniak and Turkish Communities. During the 17-18 March events 55 private houses and several religious objects were burnt or damaged. The Municipality has committed itself in speeding up the reconstruction process.

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Source: OSCE