"The decision granting the airport director permission to sign the contract will be discussed at a Cabinet meeting next Thursday. The investment is worth 220 million euros," the minister told the press on the sidelines of the conference "3rd Economist EU-Southeast Europe Summit", organised by British financial magazine The Economist.
Asked which projects will be financed from EU funds by 2020, Hajdas Doncic mentioned the railway line running from Rijeka to Botovo on the Hungarian border, Peljesac and Ciovo road bridges, a ringroad around Split, and the full reconstruction and extension of Dubrovnik Airport. He stressed that not a single euro cent from the Transport operational programme in the EU programme period 2007-2013 would be left unused.
"Most of these projects have been included in the 2014-2020 phase and some of them are being implemented in the Split area, namely the Ciovo bridge and the Split ringroad," the minister said.
Hajdas Doncic said that Croatia had access to about half a billion euros under the Connected Europe Facility (CEF), which is designed for cross-border cooperation, namely for connecting Croatia with its neighbours who aspire to join the EU -- Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. He added that Croatia had applied for CEF funds for a bridge at Svilaj, which lies on the pan-European transport corridor Vc, and that the Croatian road operator HC was preparing documentation for the extension of the road from Dubrovnik Airport to the Montenegrin border.
He said there was a possibility that preparation of technical documentation would start by 2030 for an Adriatic-Ionian Motorway or a road that would connect that part of Europe with Montenegro, Albania and possibly Greece.
When asked to comment on Thursday's criticism from the strongest opposition party, the HDZ, that the money spent on the monetisation project could have been spent on social programmes, Hajdas Doncic stressed that that money had not been spent.
"First of all, the money intended for the monetisation project was not spent. The amount at issue is 4 million kuna, which will be used for the continuation of the monetisation process. I have to emphasise once again that the government has not given up on the monetisation project. We are continuing to monetise public debt," he said.
(Hina) vm