Asked by reporters outside government headquarters about the announcement of the national power provider HEP that the Ombla hydro-power plant would be built after additional expert research gave the greenlight to this project, Vrdoljak briefly answered that things would proceed according to expert findings.

"If experts give their okay, then Ombla can go ahead, if they say no, then it will not," Minister Vrdoljak said,

"HEP professionals are doing their job, experts are analysing the impact on the environment, and it will be in line with what they decide," he added.

Transport Minister Sinisa Hajdas Doncic, who was asked about the same topic during his visit to Sarajevo on Wednesday, said that the power plant on the Ombla river would be built only if it complied with strict environmental standards.

"Only if criteria from the Natura 2000 are met, that will mean that the project has met the necessary preconditions. We must make distinctions clear as this project is being financed by the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and the project cannot be financed if it fails to meet ecological standards," Hajdas Doncic said, emphasising that he gave this statement in his capacity as the chairman of the Croatian governmental task force for public investments.

The construction of the Ombla hydro-electric plant won't threaten cave fauna provided that measures are taken to lessen and buffer negative impact and the biodiversity management plan is implemented and expert supervision is conducted during preparations, construction and use of the plant, which is why the matter of cave fauna should not be perceived as a reason not to construct the HE Ombla, Croatia's electricity provider (HEP) reported on its web site on Tuesday.