Residents of Zagreb and two neighbouring counties whose houses and flats were damaged in the March 22 earthquake and who receive minimum wages and do not have any significant property will have their property entirely reconstructed by the local and regional government, the Jutarnji List daily reports.

This is the most important change in the latest version of the Zagreb Recontruction Act, to be discussed by the government on Thursday and to be sent to parliament for a second reading on September 2 or 3.

The parliament is expected to vote on the bill on September 4 and the law is expected to go into force on September 7.

The latest version of the bill defines social criteria for reconstruction, namely criteria related to one’s income and property.

The bill in first reading envisaged a model for covering the cost of reconstruction under which 60% of the cost was to be covered by the state, 20% of the reconstruction cost was to be covered by local or regional government and 20% by owners or co-owners of properties damaged in the quake.

Under the latest version of the bill, real estate owners whose monthly income per family member in the previous year did not exceed HRK 4,000 and whose property on the day of the earthquake was valued below HRK 200,000 will be exempt from covering the 20% of the reconstruction cost.

This means that if a married couple, two life partners or two people in a common law marriage together earn up to HRK 8,000 per month and do not have property whose value exceeds HRK 200,000, the state and the city they live in will fully cover the cost of reconstruction work on their property.

The state will also fully cover the cost of reconstruction work for Homeland War invalids and people who receive welfare benefits.