ROW CONTINUES ON ISTRIAN THERMO-POWER PLANT

PAZIN, Feb 9 (Hina) - President of the Istria County Assembly Damir Kajin called a news conference Friday in Pazin, to comment on a row over an environmental hotspot which had emerged between Istrian local authority and the government in Zagreb. The county assembly has called a referendum to be staged on April 7, on which the local residents would decide whether to approve or not the government's intention to build another thermo-electric plant in the Istrian inland town of Plomin. The Ministry of Administration described however the decision on calling the referendum as illegal. "The Plomin II thermo-electric plant was a facility of national interest, while a county's assembly had no authority to call a referendum on questions of importance for the Republic of Croatia," said a letter the Ministry forwarded to the assembly on Wednesday. Kajin said that the referendum was called to make a decision on an environmental issue, "which is indisputably within the scope of local authority units which are directly concerned." "We don't take the Ministry's attempt to illegalize the referendum as a beneficial recommendation. It seems more like a part of campaign to have a coal-powered plant in Plomin at any cost," Kajin said. (Hina) jn bk 092101 MET feb 96