Real estate to accommodate young families donated to diocese of Dubrovnik – post-earthquake reconstruction completed at nearly 14,000 locations

At today's session the Government adopted the Decision on donating real estate owned by the Republic of Croatia to the diocese of Dubrovnik. Moreover, since it was the first Government session of the month, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Branko Bačić delivered a monthly report and presented the current state of the post-earthquake reconstruction.

At today's session the Government adopted the Decision on donating real estate owned by the Republic of Croatia to the diocese of Dubrovnik.

The real estate in question consists of a house and the associated land comprising 610.53 m², located in the historical city core of the City of Dubrovnik.

The donation of said real estate, located in immediate proximity of existing real estate pertaining to the diocese of Dubrovnik, will enable its renovation for the purpose of accommodating young families for a symbolic rent amount. This will contribute to demographic revitalisation of Dubrovnik's historical city core, in accordance with the programmes conducted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Dubrovnik in order to bring the residents back and to ensure affordable housing and demographic revitalisation.

The donated real estate is worth 1,980,000.00 euro, and the same amount will be considered compensation for seized property which cannot be returned to legal persons of the Catholic Church, in accordance with the obligations of the Republic of Croatia transposed based on the Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Croatia on Economic Questions ("Official Gazette - International Treaties" No. 18/98). The Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets is responsible for implementing the Government decision.

Post-earthquake reconstruction completed at nearly 14,000 locations, 454 family houses built

Considering both Petrinja and Zagreb area, the reconstruction has been fully completed at 13,914 locations - 13,145 referring to private buildings and houses comprising 52,487 separate units and 769 reconstruction projects of public use buildings and infrastructure, whose reconstruction started through the EU Solidarity Fund.

As part of the reconstruction process, 11,880 non-structural and 553 structural reconstruction projects have been completed, and 454 family houses have been built (414 in the Petrinja earthquake area and 40 in the Zagreb earthquake area). At the same time, 70 family houses have been bought for citizens who decided to purchase a property instead of building a replacement home.

In the Zagreb earthquake area, the reconstruction has been completed at 4,107 locations, while in the Petrinja earthquake area it has been completed at 9,807 locations.

Reconstruction in progress at 1,755 locations, predominantly complex structural reconstruction

Reconstruction is currently in progress at 1,755 locations, which includes 1,602 private buildings and 153 reconstruction projects of public use buildings.

"Most of these locations refer to structural reconstruction, which is significantly more complex, financially speaking significantly more expensive. Currently there are 1,165 such structural reconstruction projects in progress, whether referring to family houses or multiapartment buildings," the Minister explained.

A total of 1,822 locations is in the public procurement process - including 464 multiapartment buildings and 1,358 family houses, with a total worth of 153.5 million euro. These are predominantly structural reconstruction projects.

Let us recall, under the principle of block reconstruction - according to which over 200-250 housing units can be reconstructed in a single procurement process, the "Mali Vatikan" block reconstruction has been completed. This is a non-structural reconstruction project comprising 47,557 square metres. The complex spans across Vlaška Street, the Street of Antun Bauer, Martićeva Street and the Passage of Juraj Ratkaj, and it consists of 25 entrances and 259 separate units - 239 housing units and 20 business premises. The contracted price of the works amounts to 4.2 million euro including VAT.

Currently there are two block projects in Sisak in progress, consisting of 11 entrances and 254 separate units. One block is in the Street of Hrvatski narodni preporod 2-10 and the other one is in Meštrovićeva Street 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. The works are worth 23.56 million euro. Another seven blocks are in the procurement process, comprising 70 buildings and 837 separate units, with a total worth of the works amounting to 69.9 million euro.

"By completing these block projects, most buildings in the Lower Town will be reconstructed," the Minister stated.

A total of 1,132 comprehensive reconstruction projects of public use buildings and infrastructure completed

Through the EU Solidarity Fund 1,309 projects have been contracted and 1,132 completed. A total of 1,003 billion euro has been spent from the EU Solidarity Fund, additional 1.47 billion euro has been secured from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the remaining part is financed mostly from the state budget.

A total of 209 projects worth 2.43 billion euro has been contracted for comprehensive reconstruction of public sector buildings. By now, 74 projects have been completed, 127 projects are in progress and 8 of them are in different stages of development.

"There are 209 projects ahead of us by the end of June 2026, which is the deadline for completing the projects financed from the NRRP, and I am confident that we will complete them in order to meet the defined indicator of 600,000 square meters of reconstructed public use buildings," the Minister pointed out.

Let us recall, the post-earthquake reconstruction, whose financing started from the EU Solidarity Fund, entails 74 healthcare institutions, 156 schools and kindergartens, 27 faculties, 293 cultural heritage buildings, 600 kilometres of roads and 77 bridges and other projects of municipal and energy infrastructure.

Last month the reconstructed Medical School in Karlovac and the First School of Economy in Zagreb were opened. In the Sisak-Moslavina County area, the reconstructed Primary School Ivan Kukuljević in Sisak was opened, together with the Različak kindergarten also in Sisak.

Increase of the housing stock in Sisak-Moslavina County

Minister Bačić also commented on the increase of the housing stock in Sisak-Moslavina County, which includes planned construction of 59 new multiapartment buildings with 1,024 apartments.

"By now we have completed 34 buildings, 23 are still under construction, and by the end of the year we plan to complete 15 of them. Next year we will complete 9 more buildings, and it is to be expected that this time next year we will have 1,024 completely new apartments in the Sisak-Moslavina County area," the Minister said.

Out of the 34 completed buildings, 14 of them are located in Sisak, 8 in Petrinja, 5 in Glina, 2 in Gvozd and 1 in Kutina, Dvor, Jasenovac, Lekenik and Novska each. Two additional buildings are in the preparatory phase.

Out of the 59 planned buildings, 20 of them are cofinanced from the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion, with 15 of them being completed. Under two other projects three more buildings have been built - two from the Programme of State-Subsidised Housing Construction (POS) in Sisak and one from the interdepartmental cooperation programme in Novska.

"During last month the construction of two new buildings was completed - one in Sisak and another in Kutina. It was precisely yesterday that we handed the keys over to the new dwellers of both buildings," Minister Bačić concluded.

Let us add that so far 4.04 billion euro has been spent on reconstruction of public and private property - 2.35 billion in the Zagreb earthquake area and 1.69 billion in the Petrinja earthquake area. The 2025 budget allocates 1.3 billion euro for reconstruction.

• Minister's presentation: Reconstruction implementation in earthquake-affected areas

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