An association of experts and scientists called "Let's Rebuild Zagreb" called on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday to ensure efficient reconstruction of the city after the 22 March 2020 earthquake, criticising the bureaucratic inefficiency of the relevant authorities.

Their criticism was especially levelled at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets and the Fund for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction.

They warned that no market analysis had been done and that no framework agreements had been signed on which tenders for individual cases of reconstruction would be based, both of which were required by the Reconstruction Act.

“The cost of reconstruction has not been defined”

They also said that the cost of reconstruction had not been defined, warning that citizens who had started and finished reconstruction based on the existing laws and the main project could not be refunded.

They stressed that the funds received from the EU Solidarity Fund were respectable but served only to reconstruct public buildings and not private properties.

They called on the relevant ministries and institutions to explain the situation to the people affected without giving them false hopes and on Prime Minister Plenkovic to act decisively so that the complex process of reconstruction could begin.

According to them, the government will co-finance at least HRK 42 billion of the HRK 93 billion earthquake damage, but citizens will not be able to pay the remaining HRK 50 billion by themselves.

They said that 10 months after the Zagreb earthquake they were calling for the start of an urgent systematic reconstruction with simultaneous programmes of co-financing renovation of facades and energy renovation of buildings.

They called for a loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank to help citizens to rebuild their private property as well as for providing credit lines in Croatia.

They also want insurance against earthquake for private property to be co-financed, which they had suggested to the government before the earthquakes in Petrinja.