Campaign launched to help cover flood damage costs in Ljubljana
Ljubljana, 16 August - The municipality of Ljubljana and the humanitarian organisation Association of Friends of Youth Ljubljana Moste-Polje plan to raise funds to cover up to 75% of flood damage costs in the area. Donations will go to the renovation of ground-floor living areas only, and drinking water costs for the month of August will be co-funded.
Ljubljana
The Mali Graben swelling due to heavy rain.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA
File photo
The municipality will not co-finance flood damage costs that citizens sustained in upper floors or basements.
A donation fund will be set up to raise the funds needed. Local companies and institutions are encouraged to donate to this cause, the municipality's official Jera Grobelnik told a press conference on Wednesday.
Moreover, commissions will be established to assess the damage. They are due to start work this week.
Eligible for donations will be houseowners, but not landlords, and criteria for co-financing the renovation will be the net income of the entire household. If it is up to EUR 1,500, 75% of the costs will be covered, while households with higher income will be paid 50% of the costs.
People who can afford to do so can give up this aid so that their neighbours may receive it instead. Depending on the funds raised, additional assistance will be provided to the socially disadvantaged, if necessary, Grobelnik said.
A total of 220 buildings in the municipality were inundated during recent floods, Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković said, and living areas in 132 of these buildings were damaged.
The municipality will provide supervisors and advisers specialised in renovations works, he added, and affected citizens will be able to choose from bids received by the municipality or potential others.
Those directly affected by the floods will have their drinking water bills for August co-financed. At least 50% of the costs will be covered by the municipality, the mayor said.
Those most socially disadvantaged are offered the option of free-of-charge relocation. Citizens are invited to contact the mayor directly to request this.
Also, the city of Ljubljana has extended the deadline for free waste collection throughout the municipality until the end of August.
The municipality's public utility has been removing post-floods waste not only in the Ljubljana area, but also in nearby municipalities, many of which were hit harder by the 4 August extreme floods. So far, it has removed 840 tonnes of bulky waste.
Ljubljana was more or less spared in the floods, an outcome that the mayor attributed to flood protection measures as he vowed steps to make the city's anti-flooding protection even more robust.
The Sava River did some damage in the northern and eastern parts of Ljubljana, and some flooding occurred in the western and southern parts of the capital due to the swollen Gradaščica.