After years spent working in a decrepit building and rented space, it seems that the Fushe Kosove municipality will finally have a permanent home for its municipal administration.

For many years, Fushe Kosove has been forced to spend about 16 thousand euros per month from its small budget to pay the rent for the space used by its administration.

A new municipal building was initiated in November 2011, but remains unfinished because of problems with contractors that appeared only after the work had begun.

The building, financed by the EU, will be handed over to the municipality in two weeks, the European Union Office in Kosovo told BIRN.

In addition to the Fushe Kosove city hall, the EU financed the construction of three municipal buildings in the towns of Podujeva, Vushtrri, and Obilic.

“This decision was made after an assessment of the buildings showed that since they were left unfinished for too long, a lot of the construction needed to be improved,” a spokesperson for the EU Office wrote.

“We wanted to ensure that all issues are addressed and the works meet high quality standards,” the statement continues.

According to the EU, the implementation of the project has been late because the application for connections to public utilities to the Kosovo authorities, such as power supply and sewage, took longer than expected.

The project, which took six years to be completed, cost the EU Office 1.1 million euros. Initially, the building was supposed to be inaugurated in 2013, with a 12 month guarantee period by the contractor.

But since the contractor unilaterally ceased all work, the EU Office ended the contract in May 2013 and had to find a different contractor to continue the work.

Previously, the EU has claimed that they tried negotiating with the contractor before ending the contract, and that the process also dragged.