Economy Minister Martina Dalic presented a number of novelties aimed at simplifying the procedure, notably for private investment projects.
The current law has been in force since 2013 and has been amended twice in the meantime. Since the law entered into effect, a total of 29 projects had been included in the list of the strategic investment projects, of which 13 were listed in the past year alone.
Dalic said one of the novelties of the bill was also reducing the financial limit, namely the investment criterion for strategic investment projects from HRK 150 to 75 million, while the criterion for project in areas of special state concern, islands and those from the farming production sector, fisheries and forestry are reduced from 20 to 10 million kuna.
Under the current law, investors must provide bank guarantees for 10% of the total amount of the project while the amendments will reduce this amount to 5%. This change is important to make the entire procedure more appealing to private investors.
The bill also proposes redefining how state assets are managed, such as forest land, farmland, public roads, etc.
Under the bill, energy investment project will be include in the list of strategic investment projects.
The bill also introduces a penalty fee in the amount of 0.1%$ of the total value of the project, in case the investors fail to respect deadlines.
Croatian's government was acquainted with a protocol on cooperation in converting the oil refinery at Bosanski Brod into one powered by natural gas, with the Croatian privately-owned supplier Crodux Plin being engaged in this project.
The project is aimed at dealing with the problem of cross-border air pollution affecting Slavonski Brod, a Croatian town on the other bank of the Sava River.
The document was signed on 31 October 2017 by Croatia's Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric and the Minister of Industries, Energy and Mining in the Bosnian entity of the Republic of Srpska, Petar Djokic.
Coric said today that the protocol confirmed the intention of the parties concerned to set up cooperation so as to create technical prerequisites for the implementation of the project.
The protocol will help upgrade the Bosanski Brod Refinery, paving the way for the reduction of air pollution that has been affecting the health of residents in the town of Slavonski Brod.
The conversion will be conducted through the direct connection of the refinery to the pipeline Slobodnica-Brod that will be used exclusively for the delivery of gas supplies to the refinery.
The buyer of the gas, that is the refinery, has selected the gas supplies provider and that is Crodux company, according to Coric's explanation.
Text: Hina