At a press conference the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Janez Janša, presented the measures adopted by the Government at its today’s session in order to mitigate the consequences of thunderstorms that caused serious damage to large parts of the country during the past two months.. The full extent of immediate damage has not yet been assessed, but is, according to the Prime Minister, expected to amount to 0.3 per thousand of the budgetary resources for the current year, which means that the Government may activate budgetary reserve funds to cover the cost of remedying the consequences.
(Photo:Nebojša Tejić/Salomon 2000)
The funds, amounting to 15.5 million euros, will be used to remedy the immediate consequences of thunderstorms, to cover the expenses of fire and rescue services, to purchase material, to appropriately manage the disposal of asbestos-cement roofing materials and to set up a technical and information bureau. The bureau will be located in Ptuj and will provide counselling and assistance in the renovation of buildings. According to Janez Janša, the funds will also be used to finance the repair of school buildings, the cutting of storm-damaged trees, making good the damege caused to forrest-roads and to the roofs of the general hospitals in Ptuj and Murska Sobota. Within the next few days, the Government will also allocate funds to the Red Cross and the Slovene Caritas organisations for the provision of solidarity asssistance to individuals hardest hit by the disaster, in cooperation with local community authorities and damage-assessment committees. The Government also charged the Ministry of Finance with the task of preparing tax deferral or cancellantion instructions for individuals most severely affected by the disaster.
"Today, the Government discussed the proposed measures to be taken in the future in order to facilitate our permanent disaster preparedness" stressed Janez Janša and announced the setting up of a permanent advisory service with the task of giving advice and publishing recommendations on building construction and other activities which affect the environment, with a view to achieving their maximum adjustment to the changing climatic conditions. Due to the shortage of specific professional profiles in construction business to be employed in a rapid and efficient remedy of disaster consequences, the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, acting through the intermediary of the Employment Service of Slovenia, will proceed to emergency issuing of working permits to aliens.
(Photo: Nebojša Tejić/Salomon 2000)
"Finally, the Government expressed its appreciation to all who participated in providing assistance to the thunderstorm-stricken areas, particularly to firefighters and members of Civil Protection. The Government also expressed its appreciation to municipal authorities, especially in the Podravje region, for their prompt response and assistance in making good the damage in the most urgent of emergency cases the very first day after the storm" said the Slovenian Primer Minister on this occasion.
Janez Janša also presented a number of activities associated with incidents in the recently opened Šentvid motorway tunnel. Regarding the resignation offered by Radovan Žerjav, Minister of Transport, Janez Janša said that the reports discussed by the Government at its today's session show that the minister is not responsible for these incidents; on the contrary, he has done his best to eliminate them and to remedy their consequences. For this reason, Janez Janša refused to accept the minister's resignation.
The Government reached no final decision on the application of the management of the Motorway Company of the Republic of Slovenia (DARS) concerning this matter and on its resignation offer. According to the Primer Minister Janez Janša, certain measures have been put forward which the management of the company should further elaborate and carry out within the next two weeks. "After that, the Government, which also acts as DARS's general assembly, will decide whether to accept the resignation or not. If the government finds that the measures adopted in the meantime are appropriate and if these measures are also accompanied by medium-term measures guaranteeing that similar events will not happen again in the future, the resignation will not be accepted. Otherwise, the Government will accept the resignation" concluded Janez Janša.
