Independent MP Marija Selak-Raspudic warned on Tuesday that even two years after a strong earthquake struck Zagreb reconstruction had not begun yet and might even be suspended for a longer while because of inflation and global market disruptions. Pročitaj više

“It’s not just that the reconstruction process is slow but it might be suspended for a longer while,” Selak-Raspudic, who is a member of the Bridge parliamentary group, told a press conference on the second anniversary of the earthquake. She called for speeding up the public procurement process.

She noted that many people did not have money for the complete reconstruction of their homes which would include seismic retrofitting.  She said that the funding from the EU Solidarity Fund would only help restore buildings to their original state and therefore more money was needed to upgrade the buildings to contemporary standards and make them earthquake resistant.

Asked about her expectations from the new Construction Minister Ivan Paladina, Selak-Raspudic said his appointment could not speed up the reconstruction because it would take time for him to get acquainted with all the processes which he had inherited from the previous minister, Darko Horvat, who is currently under investigation for fraud and tender fixing.

“If he were to review all the processes, it would take him even longer, and if he continues them, I’m afraid he will continue the corruption associated with the reconstruction,” she warned.

Sovereignists: Reconstruction is this government’s biggest sin

The chairman of the parliamentary group of the Croatian Sovereignists party, Marijan Pavlicek, said that post-earthquake reconstruction was the biggest sin of this government.

“In addition to all the shortcomings of this government, its biggest sin is definitely reconstruction, which simply does not exist,” Pavlicek said on the occasion of the second anniversary of the earthquake.

Comparing the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb and the Banija region to the post-war reconstruction, he said that more than 50 per cent of houses in Vukovar had been rebuilt in the first two years after the 1991-1995 Homeland War and people had returned to their homes.

“Thirty years on, Croatia is unable to ensure reconstruction and return the people to their homes,” Pavlicek said.