USORA

Usora municipality is newly formed and comprised of pre war parts of Tesanj and Doboj municipalities. It was established in March 1998. Usora has rural character and there is
no urban part. Administrative center of municipality is located in local community Sivsa.

Huge unemployment level in the municipality represents the main challenge due to poor economic situation (lack of industrial facilities, lack of larger parcels of agricultural land etc). Infrastructure is in a very bad condition. Considering the fact that Usora is a new municipality, the water supply system is now being developed. Water quality is not satisfactory, because the water is being pumped out of shallow wells. Roads are in poor condition too. Power supply is somewhat better (10 % of the municipality is not electrified). There is no sewage system on the territory of the municipality. This problem is being treated separately by each household through making septic tanks.

Waste collection represents the biggest problem in the municipality although there is an organized waste transfer to garbage in Teslic.
Real threats represent large waste stacks in woods or near river Usora which is a main water source for municipalities Usora, Tesanj and Doboj Jug.

The main developmental potential are agriculture and small and middle enterprises. Municipal development is largely influenced by contributions provided from emigrants who originate from the area. Almost each family has one member working in Western Europe, and in some cases whole families are living and working in foreign countries. There were no huge economic capacities before the war in Usora municipality. Smaller number of people was employed in Doboj, Teslic and Tesanj and larger number in Croatia and European countries (over 1000 people). The economic mainstay is represented in the form of 47 private companies, 23 restaurants and bars, 41 manufactures, 19 shops and 5 belonging to other categories.

Usora municipality has nine local communities. Three have been included in MDP activities since August 2003.
There is a registry office in the municipal governance building where various documents are being issued to citizens like birth certificate, citizenship certificate, house list, etc.

NGO sector is somewhat restricted by the municipality size. There are war veterans associations, hunting associations, cultural organizations like ethnic dance group “Izvor” from LC Zabljak and Croatian cultural society “Napredak”. There is also a returnee association “Moj dom” from LC Makljenovac.
Total number of citizens associations in Usora is 17 together with 6 sports clubs.

Exchange and cooperation with other municipalities was established in the scope of MDP activities, and there is a potential to continue in this direction.
Small joint projects, e.g. company for water supply, sewage and waste management is periodically cooperating with a similar company from Tesanj, which is providing technical and professional assistance. Some parts of the municipality are using old water system network Jelah-Tesnja. A joint cross entity project for waste management involving Doboj, Doboj Jug, Usora, Maglaj and Petrovo is in the planning phase.

Surface area: 52.5 km2
Population: 7920
(an estimate, June 2002)