Minister of Veterans' Affairs Tomo Medved said on Thursday that the reconstruction of the Banovina region was the government's priority and that he believed that the earthquake victims currently staying in containers would return to their homes next year, calling on all stakeholders to take a proactive approach.

“Banovina is not and will not be forgotten. For the government no other project takes priority over the reconstruction of Banovina and Zagreb,” Medved told the press after the cabinet meeting, expressing confidence that all the earthquake victims would return to their homes, either rebuilt or newly built, next year.

He highlighted the importance of synergy of all the stakeholders involved in the reconstruction process and called on local leaders to take a more proactive approach and contractors to take their part of responsibility for the pace of the reconstruction process and for compliance with the deadlines.

Medved recalled that contracts worth over HRK 500 million had been signed in January 2022 for the construction of 570 replacement family homes and that the contractors had one year to finish them.

“There are certain difficulties with the pace of construction of replacement family homes and the structural reconstruction of family homes and apartment buildings, but we will do all we can to speed up these processes,” the minister said.

He said that the government had undertaken many activities in the last two years, investing over HRK 2 billion through different programmes, and added that housing reconstruction was a complex process.

“i have already said that we will process all requests for the construction of replacement family homes in the next six months. We can also process all requests by the people currently staying in containers by the end of next year or sooner if the pace is faster,” Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Ivan Paladina said.

Paladina said that unlike before, when the construction market had been in a crisis, construction companies were now very busy and not easy to find.