RECONSTRUCTION MINISTRY REPLIES TO OMBUDSMAN'S CLAIMS

ZAGREB, June 28 (Hina) - Croatia's Ministry for Public Works, Reconstruction and Construction said on Saturday it was not authorised to manage the bulk of flats in formerly war-struck areas because it remained to be established who the owners were and register them. #L# The ministry issued a statement in reaction to ombudsman Ante Klaric's claim that the "mob manages the allocation of state-owned flats" in formerly war-struck areas -- areas of special state concern. A number of state bodies have to participate in the determining of ownership in view of establishing an efficient state property management system, as do the municipalities and towns which have managed all vacant flats to date, read the statement signed by ministry spokeswoman Ivana Prohic. The government and the ministry have already taken steps to resolve the current state of affairs but the possibilities of evicting tenants illegally occupying flats in areas of special state concern are restricted to a small number of exclusively state-owned flats, as evident in Knin, said the statement. The ombudsman told a newspaper yesterday "nobody is talking about the fact that the mob and interest groups are managing state-owned flats" and that taxpayers' money has been used to build flats which are empty. He suggested the government list flats in formerly war- hit areas and establish who occupies them, on what grounds, and which of these tenants have been given a house in their pre-war hometowns. In today's statement, the ministry said that it had launched within its powers a review of the occupation of flats in areas of special state concern, encountering many difficulties when evicting owners living in those flats illegally. Court decisions protecting tenants and the limited possibilities of accommodating those who have to be evicted also pose a problem. (hina) ha sb