RADIC ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO LAW ON AREAS OF SPECIAL CONCERN

( Editorial: --> 4535 ) ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - Croatian Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic on Friday announced changes to the law on areas of special government concern. The law provides for a system of measures aimed at stimulating the reconstruction and development of war-affected areas. The Croatian government will not abandon stimulating measures, and people in those areas will not be brought into a more unfavourable position than the one in which they are now, Radic told reporters in Zagreb. He said the law should be changed for two reasons. The first one is the need to declare the Danube river region an area of special government concern after the termination of the UNTAES mandate in mid-January next year. The second reason is the need to ensure a more balanced development of the war-affected areas with other areas of Croatia. In the last two years some liberated areas have been brought to a better position than some places which were unaffected by war but had been systematically neglected in the last 70 years, Radic said. The state will continue with incentives, taking into account what has been done and invested in those areas, he added. Radic also announced a large inventory of rebuilt housing so that displaced people whose houses had been rebuilt by the state could finally move into them and return the flats they had been given for temporary use to their owners. (hina) vm jn 282010 MET nov 97