In May, an extremely important conference about demining was held in the Republic of Croatia. Namely, The Ministry of The Interior in Gospić presented the project “Croatian safe steps CROSS” with a total value of 52.2 million euros. The aim of this project is to demine a total of 3,451.5 ha of forests and forest land from mines and explosive devices and unexploded ordnance in the areas of Ličko-senjska, Karlovacka, Sisacko-moslavacka, Splisko-dalmatinska and Šibensko-kninska county.
The implementation of the project has numerous benefits for the local population and the general public, from the fact that the mine-suspected area will be significantly reduced, the safety of citizens and tourists will be improved, and the health and life of people will be protected as well as the environment, while property will be preserved.
At the presentation of the project, the Vice-President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Minister of the Interior, Davor Božinović, pointed out that the Republic of Croatia has been demining for the past 30 years, and in the next two years, Croatia will be completely demined.
For the complete demining of the rest areas, approximately 10,000 explosive remnants of war, mined and unexploded military assets are needed to be deactivated.
This news is worthy of every attention, I would say breaking news for a country that has been demining its territory for 30 years and with so many victims. Namely, in Croatia 610 people were injured by mines, 207 of them fatally, and 40 pyrotechnicians lost their lives performing demining tasks. Such significant news is no longer so interesting to the media, but we are glad that Bolder took part in preparing and organizing this event.