ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Minister Ivan Paladina said on Tuesday that an integral plan for reconstruction after the March 2020 earthquake in Zagreb and ways to step it up would be presented in mid-April.

"The plan will include concrete steps, a clear dynamic of the reconstruction process over the next 12 months and in the period after that. I believe that by stepping up current processes we will manage to open several hundred construction sites by the end of the summer," the minister said.

As for Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević's statement that there was no more time to wait and that reconstruction had to start, Paladina said that reconstruction was a joint effort and that after disasters like earthquakes, reconstruction "lasts five, six or many more years."

A reporter remarked that the profession had identified slow state administration as the main cause of the slow reconstruction process, to which Paladina said that they were working on that problem, as well as thinking about how to facilitate the process of public procurement.

As for non-structural reconstruction in Zagreb, the minister said that work on the first buildings would start relatively soon, in a month or two.

"There are some 30 apartment buildings in downtown Zagreb and tenders for reconstruction work on them will be published very soon," Paladina said.

He said that applications would soon be invited for the post of director of the Reconstruction Fund, calling on all candidates who meet the employment terms to apply, adding that he did not believe the selection process would additionally slow down the reconstruction process.

The minister also said that he would soon propose that the government should continue paying rent for people who had to move out of their properties damaged in the earthquake.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Tuesday, the second anniversary since a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck Zagreb and the surrounding area, that reconstruction was a priority and needed to be accelerated, adding that there were great expectations from the new Construction Minister Ivan Paladina.  

"The new minister has the task to speed up reconstruction, use all available funds from the Solidarity Fund and move the people who are now living in containers to their homes as soon as possible. That's a priority," Jandroković told a press conference after a meeting of the Parliament Presidency.

"Reconstruction is very important. There are great expectations from the new minister, he is facing great challenges, and I hope he will be successful. The reconstruction process must certainly be faster than it has been," he added without wanting to point the finger at those responsible for the slow pace of reconstruction.

He said it was not true that nothing had been done in the last two years because a certain number of houses had been repaired and the process of seismic retrofitting was about to begin.

"We want this to be done as soon as possible. The deadline for the use of funding from the Solidarity Fund is June next year and I expect all the money will be spent by then. I also expect that the majority, if not all of the people now living in containers will be relocated to their homes by the end of the year," Jandroković said.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said on Tuesday, on the second anniversary of the 2020 earthquake, that the city administration was very unhappy with the reconstruction of private buildings, of which the state was in charge, calling on the state to say what more the city can do to help it in the process.

"It is a duty for the city to help in the process but we must also say that our patience, as well as the patience of Zagreb residents, is wearing thin. Let them say what else we can do to help, and we will help," Tomašević said at a regular press conference.

On the second anniversary of the 22 March 2020 earthquake in Zagreb, with no private buildings or houses having been reconstructed, the mayor said that he was "extremely unhappy".

He recalled that the city had set aside HRK 160 million for reconstruction this year.

That is a 20% share with which, under the law, the city is obliged to co-finance the reconstruction of private houses and residential buildings, and the money has still not been touched because the city is waiting for the completion of processes of which the state is in charge, Tomašević said.

Asked where the problem was and who was responsible for the reconstruction of private buildings not having started yet, the mayor said that under the law, it was clear that the reconstruction of private buildings was in the remit of the state - the construction ministry and the reconstruction fund.

In a message to the state authorities, Tomašević said that if the legislative framework was still not good, it should be changed again.

"If the law is not good, change it again. If the reconstruction programme is not good, let it be changed," he said.

If the problem in the reconstruction process is the lack of construction companies, one should publish international tenders, he said.

Asked if there was a forecast as to how many private houses and buildings in Zagreb should be reconstructed by the end of the year, the mayor said that the HRK 160 million contribution from the city had been agreed with the Construction Ministry.

"We set aside the 160 million... because we expected that it was our contribution to some HRK 800 million for the reconstruction of private buildings, which should have been launched and the funds spent by the end of the year," he said.

The city has already invested HRK 250 million into the reconstruction of public buildings, and that money will be reimbursed from the EU Solidarity Fund. Temporary accommodation has been secured for people who after the earthquake were accommodated in housing containers and the Arena Hostel, and the city has reassigned its employees to the ministry and the fund to help step up the procedures, Tomašević said, citing what the city has done so far to facilitate the reconstruction process.

He added that the city had also allocated HRK 41.8 million in aid for citizens whose properties were damaged in the earthquake.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - Primary school pupils in the northern Adriatic town of Opatija marked World Water Day on Tuesday by throwing 13,800 biodegradable balls with effective microorganisms into the sea, thus also marking 138 years of the existence of the regional water supply and drainage system.

Effective microorganisms consist of a mixture of about 80 different microbial groups, mainly photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria and other naturally occurring microorganisms that help maintain the natural balance in a habitat.

The campaign was organised by the municipal water management company Liburnijske Vode, while the material for the balls was provided by the Rijeka-based company "Efektivni mikroorganizam originalna tehnologija".

This was the fourth such campaign organised in the Liburnia region to mark World Water Day.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that the weakest and poorest are paying the price of the war in Ukraine while at the same he recalled that there was no support from the world when Croatia experienced its "Calvary."

The president and supreme commander of the armed forces participated in a ceremony in the eastern town of Vinkovci marking the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Croatian Army Guards Armoured Mechanised Brigade.

Addressing the troops, President Milanović spoke about the war in Ukraine and then recalled the 1991-1995 Homeland War.

"The war is raging in Ukraine. One large country has attacked another, smaller one. And often as it occurs in history, we have learned little and the weakest and poorest are paying the price," Milanović said, underscoring the absence of support from the world when Croatia was attacked.

"When Croatia experienced its Calvary and horror, there was no support from the world except international recognition which came too late, much less any weapons. Everything your predecessors achieved, they did completely on their own without anyone's help and amid obstruction," said Milanović.

He said that Croatia has for years been proving that "our path was difficult, with errors, bloody but above all fair, just, justified and with the aim that was supported by a vast majority of the Croatian people."

The army and a military career are above all a vocation, a way of life like few other professions. Many professions, he continued, mean earning a living and paying the bills while the army is something else.

 "Our homeland, the Republic of Croatia, is above all of that. We are here to defend it together if need be. (...) You should always be aware that your first and main duty is to defend the Croatian homeland," Milanović told the ceremony.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - The Croatian Chamber of Architects on Tuesday called for a transparent and implementable reconstruction programme to organise reconstruction according to spatial units and coordinate non-structural reconstruction and seismic retrofitting as well as the construction of new buildings.

The reconstruction of buildings should be a result of plans for the urban renovation of neighbourhoods, which would contribute to the betterment of society and space as a whole, the association, which goes by the acronym HKA, said in a statement on the occasion of the second anniversary of the March 2020 5.5-strong earthquake in Zagreb.

Architects believe that new buildings should be built based on the best architectural designs so that they are in line with spatial planning documentation, architectural conditions and the way of life in individual regions.

The Reconstruction Act should enable project documentation to be made in line with the Construction Act, based on which citizens will claim the right to have their reconstruction costs refunded.

The HKA called for enabling the design of complete building reconstruction, improving basic requirements for buildings, and conducting reconstruction in stages, depending on available funds.

As always, architects will make their expertise available to all stakeholders in the reconstruction process, and they want to be involved so that the processes launched are better, faster and more effective, the chamber said.

We want our living space to be modern, orderly and planned, and our heritage to be improved with new purposes, protected and safe, the architects said, noting that post-earthquake reconstruction should mark the process of a major economic, demographic and urban transformation of the country.

The devastating earthquakes that hit Croatia in the past two years have raised awareness of the poor state of the housing stock and the worrying economic and sociological situation in the parts of the country that have been neglected for decades, the HKA said.

The poor state of buildings, both housing and public, the poor state of infrastructure, low population density, the unsustainable network of settlements and demographic problems are just some of the characteristics of not only rural but urban parts of the country as well, it said.

Unfortunately, two years since the earthquake, we are witnessing an unsatisfactory dynamic of the reconstruction process as well as unsatisfactory quality of reconstruction work in all areas, the architects say.

This is due to a poor legislative framework that focuses exclusively on the seismic retrofitting of buildings instead of on integral solutions for the reconstruction of spatial units and individual buildings, the HKA says.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - Croatia has recorded 1,254 new coronavirus cases and 12 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Tuesday.

The number of active cases currently stands at 9,492. Among them are 654 infected people who have been hospitalised and 42 of them of them are on ventilators, while 6,792 people are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 1,085,558 people have been registered as having been infected with the novel virus, of whom 15,463 have died. A total of 1,060,603 have recovered, including 1,238 in the last 24 hours.

65.66 per cent of adults have been fully vaccinated.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - An information centre for Ukrainian refugees who have fled from the Russian invasion of their country was opened in Osijek in the main square and it will provide information regarding accommodation in Osijek-Baranja County which is currently caring for about 350 refugees.

After Osijek Mayor Ivan Radić and County Prefect Ivan Anušić visited the centre on Tuesday, Anušić said that the integration of Ukrainian refugees in communities in Osijek-Baranja County was going well.

"Refugees can contact this Info Centre to solve their issues and needs, from obtaining documents to communicating with possible employers," Aničić explained.

The Osijek-Baranja County Prefect called on all employers in need of workers to contact the centre where they can be connected with Ukrainians who seek employment. Anyone willing to make their residential premises available to refugees can also contact the centre because the European Commission and Croatian government will cover the cost of their accommodation for the next three years, he added.

Mayor Radić recalled that the county and city authorities promptly prepared themselves for this situation and adopted an Action Plan.

City authorities have prepared a children's corner in the city's Cultural Centre which has already been filled and plans are being prepared for its extension he said and underscored that city authorities were doing everything in their power to help refugees feel welcome.

An attorney and interpreter are present at the Info Centre every day while volunteers assist with everyday tasks in cooperation with Osijek's Faculty of Law.

A Croatian language course has been announced for refugees to help them to be better integrated into the community. The first group consists of 30 adults with childcare services provided while they are attending classes.