Bačić in Petrinja: There is no reason for a third winter in containers

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction Branko Bačić visited Petrinja and Glina. He visited the container settlement in Petrinja and the construction site of the prefabricated Ivan Goran Kovačić Elementary School - Nebojan Regional School. In Glina, he attended the symbolic marking of the beginning of construction of three new residential buildings with a total of 57 apartments.

During his visit to the Petrinja area, Deputy Prime Minister Branko Bačić said that reconstruction in that area is progressing more and more and that he believes that the money from the Solidarity Fund will be used by the end of June, so there is no justification for the victims of the earthquake to face a third winter in containers.

Minister of Construction and Spatial Planning Bačić and his associates spoke with residents of the container settlement in Petrinja, and visited several construction sites.

Although it was announced that they would visit residents of only two containers, upon arriving at the container settlement, the guests were surrounded by a large number of residents who asked the guests many, often unpleasant, questions.

Some of the residents are opposed to moving to more suitable temporary accommodation until their houses and apartments are rebuilt. They were interested in furnishing of future apartments, care models and other issues.

“We solved the care of our citizens who were affected by the earthquake through 11 models of housing care. Now before us is the reconstruction of multi-apartment buildings in the center of Petrinja and other buildings according to the priorities that we will define with the mayor and the prefect. The reconstruction works on the buildings financed from the European Solidarity Fund in the Petrinja area and the entire Sisak-Moslavina County are progressing well and the reconstruction deadlines are nearing the end,” said Minister Bačić.

After talking with residents of container settlements, he concluded that most of them are satisfied with the proposed housing solutions, and he pointed out that he believes that the others will also accept the ministry's program, which offers more acceptable and better housing models.

He repeated that there are no justified reasons why residents would stay in containers for a third winter.

At the Ivan Goran Kovačić Primary School in Nebojan, reinforced concrete foundations have been built, interior finishing is in progress

After the container settlement, the guests visited the construction site of the Ivan Goran Kovačić Regional Elementary School from Gora in Nebojan, which was heavily damaged in the earthquake.

The complete reconstruction, carried out by Sisak-Moslavina County, costs around 850,000 euros. As Prefect Celjak said, after the reinforced concrete foundations have been built, the interior decoration of the school is underway.

Works worth 850,000 euros should be finished by May of this year, so students will attend classes in the reconstructed building from the next school year.

Minister Bačić, State Secretary Domagoj Orlić, Deputy Prime Minister Anja Šimpraga, Prefect Ivan Celjak and their colleagues began their visit to Banovina with a working meeting with member of parliament and mayor of Petrinja Magdalena Komes, at which the main topics of discussion were the reconstruction of replacement family houses, self-reconstruction, construction of residential buildings and reconstruction of public buildings.

After Petrinja, the guests headed to Glina, where the beginning of construction for three new residential buildings with a total of 57 apartments was symbolically marked.

“In this way the housing fund devastated by the earthquake in the Glina area will be significantly increased,” said Minister Bačić.

Source: HRT