Will the new Zagreb Airport terminal be opened on time?
Although the construction of the new passenger terminal of the Zagreb International Airport is progressing as planned, there is serious risk that the terminal will not be opened by the end of 2016 because it will not be able to get the final permit. Hrvatske Ceste are having serious problems with purchasing land needed for the construction of the access road to the terminal, reports Vecernji List on September 18, 2015.
Without the road, which should be just 1.6 kilometres long, the new passenger building worth 330 million euros will not be able to get the permit. Hrvatske Ceste say that some owners of the plots on the route of the future access road are blackmailing them by demanding unrealistic prices for their plots. HC started to buy land at the beginning of 2014 and the experts have estimated that the plots along the route are worth 80 kuna per square metre. However, some of the owners have complained about the price and the State Administration Office in Velika Gorica appointed another expert who assessed the value of the same land to 150 kuna per square metre.
“Why has the Office accepted the larger amount”, asks Jurica Krleža, general manager of Hrvatske Ceste. He adds that Hrvatske Ceste have complained to the Ministry of Justice which determined that the land owners should receive advance payment of between 80 and 150 kuna. However, according to that decision, Hrvatske Ceste will be able to start construction on just 65 percent of the route. The rest of the route is still pending a decision on the advance payments.
“Some owners have hired lawyers who demand more than 600 kuna per square metre. How could we pay to someone 80 kuna and to their neighbours 150 or 240 kuna for the same land”, complains Krleža who reported the whole case to the State Attorney’s Office. Hrvatske Ceste are afraid that the Administrative Court will forbid them to start the construction until the dispute is resolved. And that would mean that the road would not be completed on time.
Hrvatske Ceste have planned to pay eight million kuna for the land, but now that amount could be doubled. The estimated value of the project is 53 million kuna, construction should last for nine months and be finished by October 2016.
