The Novo Brdo housing estate will expectedly be ready for its residents to move in in 2021. The size of the flats will range between 30 and 80 square metres, and the Housing Fund aims for the rent to cost EUR 6-8 per square metre.

The 18 apartment blocks will be built by two consortia in two stages. Companies Gorenjska gradbena družba, Kolektor Koling and GP Krk, will start off by building 307 flats, while companies CGP and SGP Graditelj will build the remaining 191 flats, 25 of them are to be assisted-living flats.

The project has a price tag of EUR 56.8 million. About half of the cost is to be covered by a EUR 50 million loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), whose Vice-Governor Tomaš Boček was also present at the ceremony today.

The CEB loan will also be used for the construction of another 300 flats in Ljubljana and Maribor.

Talking about the Housing Fund's plan to increase its rental housing stock by 10,000 by 2025, Housing Fund boss Črtomir Remec said "this is merely the first step, we need to climb another seven to reach the summit".

Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Simon Zajc said at the ceremony that the government had vowed to increase housing policy funds to 0.4% of GDP to about EUR 200 million.

Meanwhile, Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković said that the Ljubljana Housing Fund was also building flats in the same area. Construction has already begun, and the 174 rental flats will expectedly be finished in 14 months.

He also said that the municipality owned a large plot nearby, where a new school would be built to meet the needs of the new neighbourhood.

Currently, the national Housing Fund is getting ready to launch the construction of another 1,500 flats in Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj, Ivančna Gorica and Lukovica, Remec also said today.