MORE THAN 60% HOUSING FUND IN BH DESTROYED DURING WAR

SARAJEVO, August 1 (Hina) - More than 60 per cent of the housing fund, including more than 470,000 houses and flats, were destroyed during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and international financial institutions estimated that out of USD 5.1 billion intended for the reconstruction, 1.8 billion will have to go for the reconstruction of housing units. Advisor to the World Bank Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina Michael Koch said in Sarajevo on Thursday that this organization started a project of urgent housing reconstruction for the amount of USD 70 million. 15,000 flats and smaller buildings should be repaired by the end of the year, and the World Bank alone will finance the reconstruction of 23,000 houses. Koch said that 1,600 flats and 210 buildings, mainly in the Sarajevo and Mostar areas, had been repaired so far. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also started a special project for the reconstruction of the housing fund, financed by the U.S. government. USAID representative Timothy Knight announced a plan to provide housing for some 12,000 refugees and displaced persons by the end of December, consisting in the erection of buildings with two and three-room flats in 88 villages in the Bosnian Federation. About 20 per cent of these buildings would be built in areas with a mainly Croat population, Knight said. (hina) ha mm 011446 MET aug 96