September the 24th, 2026 – The so-called “revolutionary” new Croatian road toll system is delayed, which comes as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
Croatian Motorways still haven’t selected who will create the application and everything else needed for the upcoming Croatian road toll system. Poslovni reports that the project is worth around €160 million and we’re yet to have any idea when it will finally start functioning. All drivers on Croatian motorways should be able to drive without stopping and messing around with tolls and ENC’s as of March, but this “revolutionary” move has, of course, stalled. An unexpected problem has appeared in the development of the application into which every driver would have to enter their data and card details, reports klikni.hr.
Because of an appeal lodged by a company among whose owners is also a firm registered at the Commercial Court in Bjelovar, with its seat in Zdenci, Croatian Motorways have hit a roadblock (no pun intended). Portals with cameras are already being installed on the motorways, but the web portal, mobile app and integration data buses – that is, the part of the system with which drivers will directly interact – is still far from realisation. To make the irony greater, that part of the work is estimated at “only” €330,000 excluding VAT.
appeals, delays and issues – a true croatian saga
Let us recall, at the end of May Croatian Motorways awarded that job to a consortium of bidders consisting of the Zagreb companies Bos Projekt and Infinum and the British AMR CyberSecurity. The Zagreb company Abysalto appealed against the decision, and the State Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures back at the end of July partially accepted its claims and annulled the selection decision.
HAC now has to re-evaluate the bids. According to data from the court register, Abysalto has three members of the company: the firm King ICT, Stipo Matić and the firm Novčić više. Matić is, at the same time, the president of the supervisory board of Abysalto. Novčić više is registered in the register of the Commercial Court in Bjelovar, and its seat is in Zdenci, a municipality in the east of Virovitica-Podravina County that had a mere 1,453 inhabitants when the last census was carried out. In the list of activities of that company, IT is not mentioned. It is registered, among other things, for the production of pellets, biomass and biogas, forest management, energy distribution and waste transport.
The sole founder of the company from Zdenci is King ICT, and the director is Stipo Matić, which means that the same owner appears in Abysalto both directly and through the company registered in Bjelovar. The share capital of Abysalto was increased in the middle of last year from €7,000 to €5.3 million, and in the same period part of the assets of the company Omega software was also transferred to the company.
the clock is ticking and time is running out
Time for the new Croatian road toll system of toll collection is rapidly running out. The development of the software and application takes six months, and the company responsible for implementation would like to start testing as early as January. The situation is all the more complex because even after HAC reselects the contractor a new appeal is possible, and with it further delays in the realisation of this job.
Transport Minister Oleg Butković despite the standstill claims that the system will start on time. “We’re sticking to that deadline, everything is proceeding at its own pace,” Butković said rather vaguely. From Croatian Motorways they state that all activities are being carried out according to the legal deadline, but they do not deny that it is a complex project in which the appeal deadlines in public procurement procedures must also be respected.
