(Hina) - After touring construction sites in the area of Zagreb on Tuesday, Construction Minister Branko Bačić said the pace of the post-earthquake reconstruction was satisfactory, with the process running more smoothly and his ministry working to additionally expedite the process of public procurement.
The minister visited locations in Zagreb where the reconstruction of private homes and state properties has been under way.
"The purpose of these visits is to check if the reconstruction process is proceeding at the set pace... and to see how we can expedite reconstruction in Zagreb, where the fourth anniversary of the earthquake will be marked soon," he said.
Bačić noted that dealing with paperwork had been maximally expedited, adding that the 2023 amendments to the Reconstruction Act had made the reconstruction process run more smoothly, reducing the number of documents required for reconstruction as well as the number of stakeholders in the process.
"That has resulted in the reconstruction of close to 600 public buildings, 180 schools and kindergartens, 26 faculties, 84 health institutions, 250 cultural heritage buildings and 600 kilometres of roads in the area of Zagreb and in Sisak-Moslavina County," he said, stressing that €1.003 billion had been secured for reconstruction from the European Solidarity Fund and an additional €1.525 billion under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
New public procurement process
Bačić noted that the process of public procurement and the selection of contractors was currently the biggest challenge.
The ministry has published public procurement procedures for 1,500 locations, he said, but noted that at the moment it did not expect to find contractors for a large number of those procedures.
He noted that procurement procedures are often repeated and that frequently no offers are submitted as domestic construction companies are too busy, adding that the ministry is working on a pilot project for a new form of public procurement for the area of Zagreb and Banovina to address problems in the process of public procurement.
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