ZAGREB, July 30 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Wednesday endorsed a law on privatisation and a law on the Croatian Assets Fund (HIF), which will replace the current name the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP). The endorsed bills
regulate the entire portfolio which is held by the Republic of Croatia and which is going to be privatised.
ZAGREB, July 30 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Wednesday
endorsed a law on privatisation and a law on the Croatian Assets
Fund (HIF), which will replace the current name the Croatian
Privatisation Fund (HFP). The endorsed bills regulate the entire
portfolio which is held by the Republic of Croatia and which is
going to be privatised. #L#
Under the privatisation bill, the state-run portfolio consists of
shares and business stocks held by the HFP, the State Agency for the
Insurance of Saving Deposits and Bank Restructuring, the Croatian
Pension Insurance Fund, the Croatian Health Insurance Fund and also
companies and public companies owned by the Republic of Croatia and
institutions established by the government.
According to Economy Minister Ljubo Jurcic, the management over all
those assets, including their sale, being performed by one body
will render privatisation process simpler and more expeditious.
The said bill envisages models for the sale of shares and stocks,
including the sale of shares under more favourable conditions to
workers (the so-called SOP model).
The minister of trades and small and medium sized-businesses,
Zeljko Pecek, proposed that all kinds of real estate, particularly
land, which were part of (state-owned) companies and which had not
yet been evaluated, should be listed into HIF's registry and that
after that a decision would be made whether they would be sold to a
company, or leased, rented or given to a concession-holder. This
was supported by a Deputy Prime Minister, Slavko Linic, while
Tourism Minister Pave Zupan-Ruskovic suggested that the land of
this kind should not be sold but leased or given to a concession-
holder.
The proposal made by Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac that the HIF
should be entrusted with the task to register the government's
claims was endorsed at the session.
The government supported a report on the course of negotiations
with the European Investment Bank on a EUR50-million loan for the
reconstruction of public utilities in the areas of special state
concern. The entire value of the project is 100 million euros, and
the rest of 50 million will be ensured from the government's budget.
The loan would be approved for a time term of 20 years, with a five-
year-long grace period and a low interest rate. First instalments
of the loan may be drawn as of spring 2006.
From 2000 to 2003, about 23,000 housing units were reconstructed
through various models of the reconstruction. This cost almost
three billion kuna, making it possible for 66,000 people to return
to their homes.
So far, a total of 130,000 housing units have been rebuilt in the
formerly war-stricken areas. The entire job required over 13.7
billion kuna, which is more than what is to be invested in the
Zagreb-Split highway, Deputy Reconstruction Minister Venko Curlin
told the government. Of the said amount, 92 percent has been secured
from the budgetary funds, and only eight (8) percent has been
allocated by other international sources, he added.
During a discussion on the issue, a Deputy Prime Minister, Goran
Granic, said the story on the price of the recent war had not been
over and therefore he suggested that until the end of its term of
office the incumbent government should inform the public about
figures on the damage caused by the war and costs for ameliorating
its consequences.
(1EUR = 7.5 kuna)
(hina) ms sb