The construction ministry and Zagreb city authorities have agreed on procedures to accelerate the completion of reconstruction applications, and the city will transfer 20 employees to the Reconstruction Fund to boost its efficiency, it was said at a meeting on Thursday dedicated to earthquake reconstruction.

The meeting was held in the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets between Minister Darko Horvat, Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, director of the Reconstruction Fund Damir Vandjelic, and state-secretary for reconstruction and housing Gordan Hanzek.

After the meeting, Horvat said that the main topic was how to boost post-earthquake reconstruction in Zagreb.

That calls for possible amendments to laws, increasing administrative capacities at the Reconstruction Fund and for city authorities to provide credible information related to property rights and physical planning.

Another meeting was called for Monday, with Mayor Tomasevic saying that it should contribute to better communication between city authorities, particularly offices for land titles, physical planning and construction, and property rights, and the ministry.

That should accelerate the process for decisions to be forwarded by the ministry to the Reconstruction Fund, said Tomasevic.

He added that it is necessary for institutions to check which buildings have not applied for reconstruction yet and to send mobile teams to help speed up the process.

That should result with an increased number of reconstruction applications, Tomasevic said, adding that in the past 10 days structural inspections have been accelerated.

He said that the city administration would do whatever it was in its power to enhance the work of the Reconstruction Fund with regard to personnel and that about 20 staff from the city would be transferred to the fund.

Tomasevic explained that several locations were being inspected to temporarily cater for construction waste in the aftermath of the earthquake.

He added that four times more construction waste has been generated on the year and that this material will be recycled and then used in remediation of certain land parcels or in some types of construction.

Horvat: This isn’t merely laying about few bricks and patching up holes

Responding to reporters’ comments that reconstruction was going too slow and that only three damaged houses had been demolished so far, Horvat said it was necessary to collect all the necessary paperwork for decisions of that nature to be generated.

“This isn’t a question of laying a few bricks or patching up some holes caused by the earthquake,” said Horvat.

With reference to the price of reconstruction, Horvat explained that previously defined limits were an issue of dispute and that together with the Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering, a new model would be prepared.

Vandjelic: Application process is very complicated

Vandjelic said that the Reconstruction Fund had received another 6 applications for demolition, which brings the total to nine.

He agreed that the process of applying for reconstruction was very complicated, however, he underscored that huge amounts of money were involved, adding that the situation was no better elsewhere, referring to literature in the wake of earthquakes in Japan, USA, and Turkey.