ZAGREB, May 8, 2018 – State Assets Minister Goran Marić on Tuesday told a conference that his ministry will remain part of the government and won’t be merged with any other ministry, and that his ministry is preparing thousands of requests for the State Prosecutor’s Office for evictions from state property and flats.
“The government established the State Assets Ministry and won’t be abolishing or merging it,” Marić said addressing a conference organised by the Lider business weekly which attracted about 200 participants from the public and private sectors to analyse whether state assets can be efficiently used and in what direction their management is heading.
Marić explained that his ministry, as a shareholder, manages 35 strategic and special interest companies as well as five other legal entities of strategic and special interest with a total nominal value of 43 billion kuna. The ministry also manages 6,098 flats, 3,708 business premises, 3,583 building sites, 332 former army barracks, 3,022 garages and 14 camps.
“An analysis of the operations of strategic companies in the period between 2010 and 2016 indicates that they operated positively, but they can and must be more efficient. There is room to reduce costs and increase revenue, alongside increasing the level of professionalism and expertise in the operation of strategic companies. The management model is vital and it has to respond to tasks and owners’ expectations in accordance with market circumstances, the role and potential of each company,” Marić said.
The ministry’s importance in bringing order in companies and property owned by the government over the past year is reflected in the fact that the nominal value of the government portfolio managed by the Centre for Restructuring and Sales has been reduced by 1.2 billion kuna and now amounts to 5.3 billion kuna, he said.
The ministry was established by the incoming government in 2016, after Marić refused to be a minister without portfolio.
