The project of separating the park-forest Pantovcak from the Croatian Presidential complex in the Zagreb Pantovcak neighbourhood and opening it to the public was presented on Wednesday in the Office of the President in Zagreb.

The idea to open the park-forest Pantovcak to the public was created after it became clear it would be impossible to move the Office of the President from Pantovcak to a villa in Visoka street mostly due to security reasons, which was one of the President’s promises during her presidential election campaign in 2015.

The President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, answered questions from the press after the presentation of the project.

“I admit my mistake. Back then (in 2015) I could not have imagined that the state would be unable to find a suitable replacement for the Office of the President,” the president said.

Her idea was to be closer to the people of Croatia, she added.

“I believe I have accomplished that through my work, through moving my office (to different cities in the country)… I would love to be able to go out into the street and talk to the people at any moment,” she said.

Another promise fulfilled was the cutting of the costs of the Office, and with this reduction of space by 95 hectares, there will be even more cost-cutting, she said.

The Zagreb Mayor, Milan Bandic, said he expected the project to be completed by spring next year.

“We will give our best effort to make it happen sooner, in the second half of the year,” the president Grabar-Kitarovic said.

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