August the 3rd, 2024 – A massive 320 million euro Zagreb project has seen the Croatian capital ranked among the top European capitals.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, today, Zagrebačke otpadne vode d.o.o. (ZOV) will hand the management of the wastewater treatment plant over to the City of Zagreb, i.e. to the municipal utility company Vodoopskrba i ovodnja d.o.o. (ViO). This ends the 24-year period during which ZOV successfully managed the facility based on the Concession Agreement concluded with the City of Zagreb back on December the 16th, 2000.
The transfer of management to ViO is happening now because in February of this year, the City of Zagreb made a decision to unilaterally terminate the Agreement four years before its expiration was due. Respecting the right of the City of Zagreb to unilaterally terminate the Agreement even before its expiration, ZOV remained a constructive and responsible partner even during the process of termination of cooperation. Therefore, a successful transition for this Zagreb project was ensured so that people would continue to have the same, high quality of service.
“We’ve been a responsible and constructive partner to the City of Zagreb over the past quarter of a century, fulfilling all our contractual obligations. That’s how we started the process of the early termination of the contract, and although it was challenging to complete this rather complex job of transferring the management of the treatment plant to the city utility company in six months, we’re satisfied that it was successfully completed. ViO has also taken over our employees who do excellent work, so we believe that the work of wastewater treatment will continue to be performed with the same quality as it was before”, said the director of ZOV, Dr. Thomas Sichla.
“ZOV is extremely proud of the results achieved. We’re handing over this wastewater treatment plant in excellent condition, with high-quality infrastructure and a team of educated employees. This modern plant embodies the best of modern technology and principles of environmental protection with advanced processes that ensure efficient and environmentally friendly waste water management. That significantly improves the quality of life of the citizens of Zagreb,” said Markus Peter Schieborr, a ZOV board member.
The wastewater treatment plant is otherwise located on an area that spans one million square metres, a significant part of which is green space. “Caring for the environment was one of our top priorities, so we’re leaving behind a superbly arranged location. In addition to the artificial lake that we built, sports fields for football, tennis, volleyball, and basketball that we opened for use by the local community, we also planted numerous plants and about a hundred fruit trees at the site of the treatment plant, which regularly positively surprises visitors. Many citizens aren’t aware of just how beautiful and rich in greenery this entire area is, and we’re proud of the fact that we were able to contribute to the preservation and improvement of Zagreb’s environment by arranging it,” said Dr. Sichla.
With an investment worth a total of 320 million euros, the wastewater treatment plant remains the most important Zagreb project in the environmental sense. It has very significantly improved the quality of life of the capital’s residents. The purifier is, technologically speaking, one of the most advanced wastewater treatment devices in all of Europe and continues to be an exemplary example of such a device on a global scale, making Zagreb one of the major European metropolises to fully purify its wastewater.
