ZAGREB, Jan 22 (Hina) - According to the latest data, of 18,621 housing units given for temporary use, one half is still occupied while the other half has been returned to the real owners or is empty (4,997 housing units), Assistant
Public Works, Reconstruction and Construction Minister Lovre Pejkovic said at a news conference on Tuesday. The Ministry has been making efforts, together with the Serb Democratic Forum (SDF) and UNHCR, to establish the whereabouts of the owners of those housing units so that they could take them over. Pejkovic reiterated that all those whose homes had been reconstructed should move out of the property they had been occupying, adding the State Prosecutor's Office would in early February initiate eviction proceedings against those who failed to move out. He stressed that the state would continue providing for those who would have to move out of the flats and houses they had
ZAGREB, Jan 22 (Hina) - According to the latest data, of 18,621
housing units given for temporary use, one half is still occupied
while the other half has been returned to the real owners or is empty
(4,997 housing units), Assistant Public Works, Reconstruction and
Construction Minister Lovre Pejkovic said at a news conference on
Tuesday.
The Ministry has been making efforts, together with the Serb
Democratic Forum (SDF) and UNHCR, to establish the whereabouts of
the owners of those housing units so that they could take them
over.
Pejkovic reiterated that all those whose homes had been
reconstructed should move out of the property they had been
occupying, adding the State Prosecutor's Office would in early
February initiate eviction proceedings against those who failed to
move out. He stressed that the state would continue providing for
those who would have to move out of the flats and houses they had
been granted temporarily and provide them with alternative
accommodation.
Once the Ministry completes these programmes, accommodation will
have to be provided for another 4,700 families who are occupying
other people's property. The provision of alternative
accommodation will cost around 600 million kuna (around 80 million
euros), Pejkovic said.
To secure the necessary funds, the government will organise a donor
conference and ask the international community to help with loans
and donations so that the programme of property restitution could
be completed by the end of this year, as planned.
Pejkovic recalled that in September last year the government
decided to complete the process of property restitution by the end
of 2002. To carry out that task, the government adopted a detailed
action plan, Pejkovic said, recalling the parliament was currently
discussing changes to the Law on Areas of Special State Concern,
which included changes in the property restitution procedure.
Croatia has been using a loan of the Council of Europe Development
Bank for the implementation of the programme of housing
accommodation. The funds will be enough for 1,112 housing units at
the most (for construction material and the purchase of houses).
A total of 607 housing units have been financed with these funds so
far.
The Ministry currently provides for 49,280 exiled persons,
returnees and refugees and around 80% of them are accommodated in
privately-owned houses and flats, whereas the others have been
provided with collective accommodation. Of a total of 9,625
refugees who are accommodated in nine refugee settlements, 6,243
are from the Croatian Danube River region.
(hina) sb rml