The first integrated register of Croatia’s state property was inaugurated on Wednesday and made available to the public on the web site of the State Property Management Office (DUUDI).
The register, which will be updated, currently contains over 380,000 different entries classified in nine categories. Among important entries in the register are about 298,000 forests and forestry land and about 28,000 state-owned flats.
Presenting the register, the head of the State Property Management Office, Mladen Pejnovic, and Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic underlined the importance of compiling such a register and making it available to the public.
Neither Ostojic nor Pejnovic made any assessments about the total value of the state property entered into the register. They only indicated that it is higher than the EUR 21.4 billion as estimated by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office.
Pejnovic said that it was relatively easy to appraise the value when it came to state shares, explaining that the Croatian state holds shares or stakes in a total of 690 companies, but that it was difficult to estimate the value of state-owned real estate, the value of which would be appraised on the market.
Pejnovic said the register would be gradually updated and expanded in order to include new types of state property such as concessions and a list of arable farmland.
He noted that the situation regarding farmland had not yet been put into order and that the Agricultural Agency was expected to do that job.
As for the 28,000 state flats about which reporters asked many questions, Pejnovic said that 400 were allocated to the Construction Ministry for lease.
He explained that some of the state-owned flats were rented to office-holders and that none were rented to private individuals.
A great portion of the state-owned flats are in the areas of special state concern, he said adding that 8,000 were allocated by the War Veterans’ Affairs Ministry to veterans and their families.
Pejnovic also announced a government plan to sell about 40 companies in the coming period.
A special segment in the register are 630 items of real estate which are used for safeguarding national sovereignty but this segment is not complete as data on such real estate is confidential.
DUUDI does not posses data on property managed by units of local self-government.