Plenković in Petrinja: What Hasn't been Done by Now will be Done in the Future

The reconstruction of buildings that suffered major damage is now ahead of us. This entails structural and comprehensive reconstruction and further tenders for the construction of substitute houses and apartment buildings,” Plenković said at a meeting of the task force charged with the post-earthquake reconstruction of Sisak-Moslavina County and two other counties.

He said that the reconstruction process was gaining momentum and that a lot had been done. “Of course, more could have been done, and better and faster, but we will do it. What hasn’t been done by now will be done in the future. But a lot has been done,” the prime minister said.

Asked by reporters what he was not satisfied with, Plenković said that it was the general pace of the reconstruction process. He stressed his support for the task force, even though he would like “things to be faster.”

“I would like to see more buildings here, 100 substitute houses and 20 apartment buildings. I hope that things will be more visible on the second anniversary. Whoever understands the procedure concerning project documentation and tender preparation knows that these things cannot be done overnight,” Plenković said.

He said that in the past year the government had made maximum effort to make life easier for the people of Banovina after the disaster, investing over a billion kuna through different measures, providing alternative accommodation and hot meals, and exempting local residents from paying energy bills, the motorway toll and so on.

Plenković said that the government would make good on all its promises, and that now it would focus on shortening the period of alternative accommodation for 5,500 people.

He said that the reconstruction strategy was to first focus on repairing minor damage and then move on to repairing major damage.

Structural and comprehensive reconstruction starts in 2022 with the reconstruction of 26,000 buildings that suffered minor damage, 8,000 buildings that suffered medium damage and 4,000 heavily damaged buildings.

Responding to questions from the press, Plenković said that deadlines for the construction of substitute houses and apartment buildings could not be specified at this point, stressing that tenders had been issued for substitute family houses and for 10 substitute buildings with 150 apartments.

“If there are no procedural problems, they should be built before the end of next year,” the prime minister said.

He announced that at its meeting on Thursday the government would adopt a HRK 15 billion programme of measures for Banovina. He said that one of the key projects was to finish the Zagreb-Sisak motorway, which would provide strategic impulse for the revitalisation of life in this area.