FBiH Government: Criteria Established for Allocating Funds to Flood Victims

The Federal Government adopted conclusions requesting that the governments of cantons and mayors of municipalities that have declared a state of natural disaster urgently submit data on the number of houses and apartments that, according to assessments by the competent cantonal and municipal services, need urgent repair and estimates of funds for their reconstruction, and prepare information on measures taken so far regarding the repair of these facilities, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Also requested were data on the number of houses that need to be rebuilt due to landslides for persons whose houses have been destroyed and must be built in other locations. The FBiH Government also requests that the mayors of these municipalities urgently inform it about the allocation of replacement land and the procedures being carried out to secure adequate locations for the construction of new residential buildings.

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a Decree establishing criteria for the allocation of funds for eliminating the consequences of natural disasters and rebuilding areas affected by natural disasters.

Among the criteria that a natural person must meet is that they are a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that, at the time of the natural disaster declared by the Decision on declaring a state of natural disaster in the territory of the FBiH caused by heavy rainfall, they owned property in the territory of the municipality affected by the natural disaster. Another criterion is that the competent commission has determined that damage to their property occurred and that the damage was caused by the natural disaster. No more than one person from a household can exercise the right to receive funds.

To receive funds, a legal entity must meet the conditions that, at the time of the natural disaster, it was performing the economic activity for which it is registered, and that the competent commission has determined that damage to its property was caused by the natural disaster.

Funds will be allocated to municipalities in whose territory damage to infrastructure facilities occurred due to the natural disaster, or in whose territory landslides were activated due to the natural disaster, or there is an objective danger of landslide activation.

The Federal Government today agreed with the amendments and supplements to the Framework and Financial Plan of the Sava River Water Agency for the period from 2012 to 2014. New goals are defined for the next six months. These are the repair, reconstruction, and construction of protective water facilities in the flooded areas of Odžak and Central Posavina in accordance with the damage assessment and program of measures in these flooded areas, and the elimination of the consequences of the harmful effects of water on first-category watercourses in accordance with the Study on damage assessments on first-category watercourses.