Construction of cheap ferrocement sports halls starts soon - Milinković to reach agreement with primary schools

(Milenko Milinković)

It already becomes a tradition that web portal eKapija grants Aurea awards to the top investors of the year. This year`s awards ceremony will take place at the end of March. Since the new cycle is approaching, we paid a visit to the companies that were shortlisted for last year`s award to check what state of business development they reached.

Many people heard that 1,000 square meters of production, sports or residential space can be built in 15 days when company Milinković started building ferrocement facilities. These environment-friendly, energy-saving and cost-efficient facilities have already won several domestic and international awards.

Concerning the fact that the researches show that only about one fifth of primary schools in Serbia have sports halls and that the Government has adopted the Ministry of Sports and Youth's strategy for construction of small and cheap halls in the future, Milinković has recognized this great business opportunity and intends to use it.

- There is no cheaper sports hall than the one built of ferrocement - said the people from company Milinković and added that 1 square meter of the finished sports hall cost between 200 and 500 EUR. Three schools applied for the funds of the authorized ministry last year to finance construction of ferrocement halls.

- We expect our company to start drawing plans and building halls in primary schools in Šabac, Ruma and Kupinovo in spring - Jasmina Mišković, a representative of Milinković, told eKapija.

While they wait for better response from investors and concretization of the agreement on appearance in foreign markets, primarily in Russia, but also in Bali and on Cuba, Milinković keeps working on introduction of innovations in the building industry.

- The company applied for the funds of European Union, through CIP IEE 2009 fund, in the category of innovations and eco-innovations. Namely, we submitted the project documentation for construction of demo-center in Boljevci for training and professional development of workers in production and use of ferrocement.

We expect European Union to make the decision on the grant for that project prior to end of February, while the officials of FP7 programme should decide in that period whether to finance implementation of the "Accumulation of Heating Energy in Underground Storages" project.

Such method of accumulation has never been used in Serbia before and if the decision is positive, the company's owner, Milenko Milinković, will obtain the funds to test and prove that his invention and idea is not only implementable, but also productively justified.

(part of solar house in Boljevac)

At the same time, the company maintains cooperation with so far the only fixed telephony operator in Serbia, Telekom Srbija, in provision of support to secondary networks.

Since the time it was nominated for Aurea Award 2009, company Milinković has won several awards at international trade fairs and conferences: gold medal at the International Innovation Fair in Slovenia, silver medal at Ukrainian International New Technologies Fair in Sevastopol, bronze plaque at the 7th Innovation Fair ARKA 2009 in Croatia, and special award at Macedonian Fair for the project for construction of ferrocement houses, cupolas and prefabricated facilities. The company's work in 2009 was also noticed by the Association of Inventors of Serbia, which presented Grand Prix for innovations in civil engineering to the company.