"Zagreb Mayor, Tomislav Tomasevic, said on Tuesday, on the second anniversary of the March 2020 earthquake, that the city administration was very unhappy with the reconstruction of private buildings, which the government was in charge of, calling on the state to say what more the city can do to help it in the process," state agency Hina informed the public.

“It is a duty for the city to help in the process but we must also say that our patience, as well as the patience of Zagreb residents, is wearing thin. Let them say what else we can do to help, and we will help,” Tomasevic said in a news conference.

On the second anniversary of the 22 March 2020 earthquake in Zagreb, with no private buildings or houses having been reconstructed, the mayor said that he was “extremely unhappy”.

He recalled that the city had set aside 160 million kuna (€21 million) for reconstruction this year.

That is a 20 percent share with which, under the law, the city is obliged to co-finance the reconstruction of private houses and residential buildings, and the money has still not been touched because the city is waiting for the completion of processes of which the state is in charge, Tomasevic said.

Asked where the problem was and who was responsible for the reconstruction of private buildings not having started yet, the mayor said that under the law, it was clear that the reconstruction of private buildings was in the remit of the state – the construction ministry and the reconstruction fund.

In a message to the state authorities, Tomasevic said that if the legislative framework was still not good, it should be changed again.

“If the law is not good, change it again. If the reconstruction program is not good, let it be changed,” he said.

If the problem in the reconstruction process is the lack of construction companies, one should publish international tenders, he said.

Asked if there was a forecast as to how many private houses and buildings in Zagreb should be reconstructed by the end of the year, the mayor said that the 160 million kuna contribution from the city had been agreed with the Construction Ministry.

“We set aside the 160 million… because we expected that it was our contribution to some 800 million kuna (€105 million) for the reconstruction of private buildings, which should have been launched and the funds spent by the end of the year,” he said.

The city has already invested 250 million (€33 million) into the reconstruction of public buildings, and that money will be reimbursed from the EU Solidarity Fund. Temporary accommodation has been secured for people who after the earthquake were accommodated in housing containers and the Arena Hostel, and the city has reassigned its employees to the ministry and the fund to help step up the procedures, Tomasevic said, citing what the city has done so far to facilitate the reconstruction process.

He added that the city had also allocated 41.8 million kuna (€5.5 million) in aid for citizens whose properties were damaged in the earthquake.

(€1 = 7.57 kuna)