PM attends start of works on Porec wastewater treatment system

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Monday visited the northern Adriatic resort of Porec for the beginning of works on a wastewater treatment system, the largest in the region, worth more than half a billion kuna.

The European Union is co-financing the project with a grant of more than HRK 370 million.

Milanovic said the government backed such projects and worked on them together with local government, adding that from week to week he was visiting construction sites where "a lot of money is being absorbed from the European funds."

"In these projects we invest in something that isn't visible at first because it is underground, but which represents quality of living. Porec, and some other communities in Istria tomorrow, will stand side by side with the best European and world destinations," he said.

Milanovic said other regions in Croatia, such as Cakovec, Vukovar, Zupanja and Osijek, were also "in these projects... in which dozens of millions of euros, as a consequence of good work, are being absorbed from the European Union, which is the point and the objective of our being in the European Union."

He said the government would do everything to help every part of Croatia, recalling the current construction of a hospital in Pula.

"We'd like it if we could begin works on the completion of the last section of the Istrian Y (motorway) today... but this won't be possible for some more time because of some public and financial demands set by the European Commission," Milanovic said, adding that he never made unrealistic promises.

"Investing in the municipal infrastructure and environmental protection and the protection of the resources we have is very important," said Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina.

Milanovic also visited the Aquacolors water park in Porec, which will be opened on May 16, a foreign investment of EUR 25 million made by Asket, a company owned by the Czech Signum.

(EUR 1 = HRK 7.6)

(Hina) ha

News