A month and a half after catastrophic flash floods and landslides struck parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming 27 lives, the IV Congress on Water was held in Sarajevo. These tragic events were the reason why most of the experts at the conference focussed their presentations on topics such as floods, droughts, landslides and other consequences of the ever-increasing impact of climate change on water.

Director Šiljeg spoke in a panel discussion about Croatian experiences on these topics.

In his speech on the current state of the flood protection system in the Republic of Croatia and the EU directives applied in the implementation of such projects, Director Šiljeg emphasised that most infrastructure projects have been or are being realised thanks to EU funds.

“Under the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020, 13 projects for strengthening the civil protection system were approved with a total value of 301 million euros, including 5 flood protection projects worth 185 million euros and 8 projects for managing other disaster risks worth 116 million euros. These projects have already protected or will protect 130,000 inhabitants from flooding,” said Director Šiljeg.

Among the most important measures taken by the state as a prerequisite for more efficient implementation of these projects, Šiljeg highlighted the adoption of a special law – the Law on Flood Protection in the Kupa River Basin.

This law enabled the parcelling of land without the need for a site permit, provided that the parcelling plan was coordinated with the spatial planning documents at local or county level. In addition, the expropriation procedure could be initiated without a site licence on the basis of the concept or the main project. Such a solution significantly accelerated project preparation and the start of its implementation, said, among others, the director of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute.