For the demining of 340 hectares of forests and forest land, 40 million kuna will be allocated this year and next year, it was emphasized on Thursday at the Ministry of Agriculture during the signing of the Agreement on the financing of demining operations for forests and forest land between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Croatian Mine Action Centre (HCR).
The agreement was signed by the State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Marija Vučković and the acting director of HCR Ante Brkljačić, who emphasized that demining these areas will provide additional raw material for the industry, open space for economic activities such as hunting and tourism, and provide security to the population to use all the benefits of our forests without fear of mines and explosive remnants of war.
Since last year, the financing of forest demining has been taken over by the Ministry of Agriculture, and Croatian Forests have invested about 468 million kuna in demining since 1999. With these funds, over 54.8 square kilometers of forests and forest land have been demined.
Brkljačić expressed satisfaction with the increase in compensation for the use of public utility functions of forests (OKFŠ), as 30 percent of the total OKFŠ funds are allocated for the demining of forests and forest land.
Vučković stated that the demining of agricultural land is financed with money from the EU Rural Development Fund, while the demining of forest land is financed from the state budget.
The mine-suspected area covers nine counties, as well as 61 cities and municipalities that are contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance, and it is estimated that this area is contaminated with about 40,000 mines.
