European support for Croatia’s major transportation projects.
Croatia has so far withdrawn 10.8 billion kunas from EU funds for projects which have a goal of improving transport connectivity, including infrastructure projects and traffic services, reports Večernji List on 25 July 2017.
From the Competitiveness and Cohesion operational programme, the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure has signed contracts for projects worth 7.6 billion kunas, or 80 percent of the 9.9 billion kunas allocated to Croatia to date. During three Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) calls, Croatia has been approved 3.2 billion kunas for 32 road projects.
The single largest amount of EU funds that Croatia has been approved for some of its projects is 357 million euros for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge and access roads, as part of the Competitiveness and Cohesion programme. The funds from this programme are also being used in the amount of 170 million euros for the reconstruction and extension of the railway track Dugo Selo-Križevci, while the third largest amount from the programme is 134 million euros for the reconstruction and upgrade of the Dubrovnik Airport.
Funds available from the CEF programme have been used in the amount of 93 percent. The CEF is a programme for additional investments in the construction of new and upgrade of existing traffic, energy and telecommunications infrastructure facilities. The Ministry, which is the CEF transport coordinator for Croatia, had available 456 million euros, with specific calls for projects being issued in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
During the first call, six traffic projects were approved. The value of the Croatian part of the approved projects amounts to 53.1 million euros, and a total of 43.8 million euros has been approved for co-financing. The largest amount was received for the project of the reconstruction of the Rijeka-Brajdica railway terminal, worth a total of 35.5 million euros and co-financed with 30.2 million euros.
During the second call for proposals, 11 projects were approved, for which 306.9 million euros was received. Six projects were submitted by Croatia alone and five in coordination with other EU countries. Croatia received the largest amount from the CEF for one of its projects – 241.3 million euros for the reconstruction of the existing and construction of the second railway track at the Križevci-Koprivnica-state border section. The total value of this project is 283.9 million euros.
The third call for funding included the financing of 15 transport projects totalling 90.9 million euros, while the amount of non-refundable grants amounted to 73.9 million euros. The largest project in this group is the reconstruction of the railway infrastructure in the area of Port of Rijeka, worth 33.6 million euros, which will be co-financed with 28.6 million euros.
Translated from Večernji List.
