PUBLIC COMPANIES DISCUSS RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS IN EAST CROATIA

ZAGREB, Nov 18 (Hina) - The Croatian public companies involved in the reconstruction of infrastructure in UN-administered eastern Croatia still encounter opposition from local Serb authorities, particularly with regard to organizational issues, the president of the coordination committee of seven public companies, Ivan Majdak, said on Monday. "Specialists have done their job, but Serbs are constantly politicizing some issues," Majdak said. However, he added that business operations were proceeding at a satisfactory pace. The coordination committee held a meeting in Zagreb on Monday and said that the public companies had done their jobs in five villages in the Srijem region which the UN transitional administration had handed over to Croatian authorities. The coordination committee is made up of representatives of Croatian Roads, Croatian Water Management, Croatian Post and Telecommunications, Croatian Forests, Croatian Railways, Croatian Electricity Board and INA oil company. Majdak said that negotiations between the Croatian and Yugoslav railway companies on opening a section of the Zagreb- Belgrade railway line between Vinkovci and Sid, were nearing completion. Slavko Baric of the government office for restoration of Croatian authority in the region said that a pilot mine clearance project for the five villages would be soon completed. Some houses had already been handed over to the Ministry of Development and Reconstruction, Baric said, adding that construction works in the village of Antunovac was expected to begin next week. More than three million square metres of land had been inspected for mines and more than 2,000 buildings, as well as many roads and railway lines, had been cleared of mines, he specified. Baric emphasized that that was only 3.5 percent of the land that was yet to be inspected, including 76,000 hectares of farm land. He said that it would take about ten years to finish the job. (hina) vm jn 181642 MET nov 96