ZAGREB, April 2, 2018 – Croatia has 1.050 billion euro in European Union funds at its disposal for the water sector in the 2014-20 period, as part of which the government is ready to implement 25 municipal water projects while the approval of nine is pending, Environmental Protection and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić said.
The total value of those projects is 10.6 billion kuna, of which 7.5 billion kuna comes from EU grants, he said at a conference on water management, adding that the municipal water sector would be reformed this year, including a new law on water services.
Ćorić said arable land irrigation must be a national priority and that it was envisaged in the government’s 2016-20 programme. About 22,500 hectares of arable land are irrigated and 30 projects envisaging the irrigation of another 27,000 hectares are in various stages of implementation, he said, adding that 28 million kuna was set aside for irrigation projects this year.
Ćorić said that last year 260 million kuna was invested in the construction of the water supply system and that one billion kuna was invested in sewerage and waste water treatment. “Despite all those investments, the losses in the sewer system at this moment are 49%.” He said projects that would help cut those losses were invited for co-financing. The co-financing totals 120 million kuna, of which 100 million kuna came from the Hrvatske Vode water utility and the rest from public companies, he added.
