Determined Budget Rebalance of Zagreb County

The Zagreb County Administration has established a proposal for the budget rebalance for 2008 amounting to 308.6 million kuna, which is 5.6 million kuna more than what was determined by the budget.

The final decision on this will be made by the Assembly of Zagreb County at a session to be held in mid-October, according to a statement from the county administration. This decision increases the budget by 1.86 percent, which County Prefect Stjepan Kožić considers a sign that the economy in the Zagreb County area is functioning well. The administration has accepted the decision for Zagreb County to establish a company, Distribution Center for Fruits and Vegetables Ltd., in partnership with the City of Velika Gorica and the agricultural cooperative Zagrebački voćnjaci, whose task will be to build and manage a distribution center for fruits and vegetables. The company’s capital is 7.1 million kuna. Zagreb County has secured five million kuna, or 70.4 percent of the shares, Velika Gorica half a million kuna, or 7.04 percent of the shares, and Zagrebački voćnjaci 1.6 million kuna or 22.5 percent of the shares.

The center will provide services for receiving, storing, sorting and calibrating, packaging, phytopathological findings, certification, as well as loading and shipping fruits and vegetables. With its construction, said Gordana Županac, the head of the Department for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry, users will be able to take advantage of a range of benefits that will affect competitiveness, and conditions will be created for exporting products to the European market. To further encourage the development of agricultural production, the administration has decided to supplement the decision on subsidies in agriculture, rural development, and forestry.

Thus, from now on, subsidies for the purchase of equipment for winemaking will be available to agricultural holdings that own their own vineyard of at least one hectare and have purchased equipment for processing grapes, producing, and storing wine from an authorized supplier. With a maximum amount of 60,000 kuna, subsidies will also be provided for agricultural holdings with at least 10 dairy cows that purchase equipment for cow milk production from an authorized supplier in the current year. At the session, one million kuna in non-repayable capital assistance was also awarded for the purchase, renovation, and arrangement of traditional houses to encourage tourism development. According to the head of the economy department, Krunoslav Pilka, non-repayable incentives ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 kuna were awarded to 30 users from Zagreb County. (Edis Felić)