Agreements on investing in seaports signed

Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic and the directors of port authorities on Wednesday signed agreements on the construction, overhaul and reconstruction of facilities at public ports with a total value of HRK 50 million.

The documents regulating investments were signed with the port authorities in Pula, Umag-Novigrad, Mali Losinj, Krk, Rab, Bakar-Kraljevica-Kostrena, Novi Vinodolski, Novalja, Senj, Zadar and Vela Luka as well as the port authorities in Sibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who attended the agreement-signing ceremony in Zagreb, underscored that Croatia was the only European country to be both Mediterranean and Danubian, "which is a powerful added value for tourism and the economy and for the overall cultural and civilisation perspective."

The prime minister recalled that last year the Strategy on Maritime Development and Integral Croatian Maritime Policies was adopted which was followed by national plans for the development of ports. He added that this was extremely important for transport connectivity of the islands and the coast with the interior and European corridors.

Over the past ten years, more than HRK 500 million has been invested in county and local ports. He added that ports are important for the development of Croatia's islands and that the government was taking account of quality coastal and ferry transport in order to strengthen communication between islands and the mainland.

"The overhaul and reconstruction will contribute to overall upgrading of ports. National plans will be a pre-condition to prepare projects and to apply for additional funding so that that added value from the European budget will enable quality development of our ports and generally balanced regional development of Croatia," Plenkovic concluded.

Minister Butkovic recalled that this investment of HRK 50 million was HRK 10 million more than what had been invested last year.

He announced that the ministry plans to present an action plan in a week or so which will then lead the way to 80 million euro from European funds.

Croatia has 344 local ports, 65 county ports and 6 ports of special significance to the state.

Currently there is HRK 50 million available from the 2017 budget, 80 million euro or (HRK) 1.06 billion from EU funds and a further HRK 45 million from funds to be provided by the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) for projects for the reconstruction and modernisation of ports.

Text: Hina

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