ZAGREB, 26 Jan 2022 - President Zoran Milanović on Wednesday met with representatives of SOS Zagreb, an association of citizens founded a year ago with the aim of ensuring a faster and better reconstruction of properties in Zagreb damaged by the March 2020 earthquake.

Members of the association informed the president of the obstacles and problems encountered by citizens in efforts to have their properties reconstructed. They warned of the danger that time would run out to apply for funds under the EU Solidarity Fund to be used for post-earthquake reconstruction and that the cost of reconstruction of many Zagreb hospitals, schools and kindergartens would eventually have to be covered by taxpayers, the Office of the President said in a statement.

The meeting pointed to the lack of a central body in charge of post-earthquake reconstruction as the key reason why reconstruction was slow and ineffective.

This has resulted in only 75 properties in Zagreb undergoing reconstruction two years since the earthquake, the association's members said.

Private reconstruction is encouraged, however, numerous buildings are not creditworthy, which is a problem that requires the state's help in the form of faster compensation for private funds invested, while reconstruction should be compulsory, it was said at the meeting.

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ZAGREB, 10 Sept 2021 - The director of the Reconstruction Fund, Damir Vanđelić, said on Friday that the reconstruction process in five counties affected by earthquakes is inefficient, underscoring that the Ministry of Construction, Physical Planning and State Assets has processed only 2.3% of the applications.

“Of the 12,997 applications submitted by citizens, only 2.3% have been processed and decisions made. They are the only documents with which the ministry instructs the Fund or the Central State Office to conduct a reconstruction," Vanđelić told a press conference.

He believes that "no one can be satisfied with the pace of reconstruction," and that everyone, including those in the system, is to blame.

Reconstruction programme resolved only part of the problems

Vanđelić welcomed the new package of reconstruction measures, noting that he had previously warned of the urgency to adopt it.

He believes that the new package of measures will solve only part of the problem. One of the obstacles to reconstruction lies in the fact that the current law has too many implementing bodies that are not cooperating sufficiently. Amendments to the law should centralise project management and procurement.

He also referred to a shortage of staff in bodies dealing with reconstruction, adding that urgent repairs of chimneys, stairwells and lifts need to be addressed in an organised manner. He believes that the cost of structural reconstruction should be fully covered in earthquake-hit areas.

Amendments to law mentioned only three weeks ago

Vanđelić added that even though experts and the Fund had warned that it was necessary to amend the law, it was only three weeks ago that this issue was even mentioned in the Ministry. 

Fund has received 57 decisions from the Ministry to date

Citing statistics, Vanđelić said that the Fund had received 57 decisions from the Ministry, and 21 of those decisions are related to demolitions while the others refer to allowances paid for temporarily securing damaged buildings.

Four houses have been demolished, 224 public procurement procedures have been implemented, with 98 of them being withdrawn as the prices were too low based on the former reconstruction programme. The Fund has paid out 689 compensation claims for damage caused by the earthquake with a total value of HRK 35,827,981.

In addition, the Fund has received 101 interim decisions and 132 conclusions from the Ministry requesting the Fund to determine the facts related to the administrative process of reconstruction applications.

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ZAGREB, 9 Sept 2021 - The Croatian government on Thursday adopted a new program for the reconstruction of earthquake-damaged buildings in five counties to correct prices of reconstruction work due to a rise in market prices and extend deadlines for the submission of requests for reconstruction.

Also, the status of a legalized property is no longer required for owners to seek grants for temporary assistance and emergency interventions, Construction Minister Darko Horvat said, noting that the changes would help step up the reconstruction process.

The program includes results of a study the purpose of which was preliminary identification of risky geological process, soil liquefaction, and landslides and which was conducted in cooperation with the Zagreb Faculty of Mining Geology and Petroleum Engineering, Horvat said.

Under the new program, owners willing to reconstruct their houses on their own in disaster areas will be able to arrange the making of the design study and project documentation as well as reconstruction work on their own while supervision over finished reconstruction work and payment will be done by the Central State Office for Housing.

The program defines more clearly than before the content of important technical documentation related to reconstruction, the final report by the supervisor engineer, and the written statement by the contractor, and it additionally regulates the necessary elements for all key stakeholders in the reconstruction process and extends deadlines for the submission of applications.

As of now, citizens will be able to seek grants not only for the general design for reconstruction work but also for designs for structural reconstruction and total reconstruction, with the deadline for such applications being extended until 31 December 2030.

The deadline for the submission of applications for grants for the temporary protection of damaged properties has been extended until 31 December 2022 while applications for the removal of destroyed residential buildings, combined residential and office buildings, and office buildings may be submitted until 31 December 2025.

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ZAGREB, 2 Sept 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that the government would do everything to accelerate the process of post-earthquake reconstruction, and recalled that new tenders for about 4,000 houses in Banovina would be advertised already today and tomorrow.

"We will make every effort to speed up that process... and the Ministry of Construction and State Assets will present a comprehensive proposal of measures and possible legal changes which should make the entire reconstruction process more efficient and faster," Plenković said at the beginning of a government session.

As for the beginning of the new school year, the prime minister expressed satisfaction with the increase in the number of vaccinated persons in the school system.

"They set a good example and motive to those that haven't done that yet," he said.

Currently, 57.5% of the teaching staff in primary and secondary schools have been given at least one shot against COVID-19 and in tertiary education, this percentage is higher, 64.5%,  Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said on Wednesday.

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