ZAGREB, July 12, 2018 – The municipality of Tounj has been removed from the list of areas believed to be mine-infested, mayor Ivica Sopek said on Wednesday after Croatian Mine Action Centre (HCR) head Zdravko Modrušan presented Karlovac deputy county head Vesna Hajsan Dolinar with a document confirming that an area of 89,960 square metres near the Tounjčica River had been cleared of explosive devices left over from the 1991-95 war.
The mine removal project cost 1.1 million kuna, of which 519,999 kuna was donated by the American Chamber of Commerce.
American Chamber of Commerce executive director Andrea Doko Jelušić said that the donation had helped check 52,852 square metres of the 89,960 square metres of land believed to be infested with mines. Since 2001, the American Chamber of Commerce has donated more than 9.3 million kuna for mine removal projects in seven Croatian counties, she said.
Croatian Mine Action Centre head Modrušan said that eight counties and 55 towns still had areas that were believed to be infested with mines.
Modrušan said that he hoped the size of such land would be reduced by 40 square kilometres by the end of 2018. “Croatia should have been cleared of mines by 2019 but since we evidently won’t meet that target, we have asked the centre in Geneva to approve a seven-year extension, meaning that Croatia could be free of mines by 2026. That will be possible if the current influx of money from EU funds continues, and we owe special thanks to the American Chamber of Commerce, which has been generously financially assisting mine removal projects in Croatia for 16 years,” he said.
Damir Stojković of the HCR office in Karlovac said that 382 kilometres of land remained potentially mine infested and that Karlovac County was currently “the fourth most mine-infested county, with 49 square kilometres of land believed to be infested with mines,” and Plaško municipality being the most affected.
