ADRA has rebuilt 860 houses, worth about EUR 4 million, in Lika-Senj, Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina counties, with substantial assistance from the German government and the embassies of Great Britain, Austria and other countries, the director of ADRA's Croatian office, Tihomir Lipohar, said at a press conference.
Lipohar said that ADRA would continue supporting housing reconstruction projects and the development of family farming and tourism businesses.
Ambassador Peters expressed satisfaction with the successful completion of aid projects for Serb returnees, adding that despite the fact that some EU funds from which reconstruction projects had been financed were being closed, there was money for humanitarian aid, and that he would personally intercede with the German government to continue funding ADRA's projects.
There are still about 12,000 people in Croatia whose applications for reconstruction aid have not been fully dealt with, Milorad Pupovac, a member of parliament representing the Serb minority, said during the visit to Vrhovine.
Pupovac said that the Croatian government allocated considerable funds for reconstruction, but that international support was also substantial, particularly ADRA's in Vrhovine, Plasko, Plitvicka Jezera and Korenica.
It is important that the aid should continue, particularly for the development of family farms, and that Croatia, as an EU candidate country, should start withdrawing money from pre-accession funds for the development of Lika, Dalmatia and Kordun, which are lagging in development, Pupovac said.
Asked by a reporter if he was satisfied with the government's activities in the area, Pupovac said that the government had started to deal with those problems but that he was not happy with the level of its involvement.
"It seems as if the government is ashamed of showing Europeans what we actually need. We should be more enthusiastic and show that we have not been entirely successful and that we need help," he said.