The City Council of Zagreb adopted an amendment to the proposal of the budget of the City of Zagreb for 2009 at today’s session, which allocates the amount of 15.6 million kuna for the preparation of project-technical documentation for the commencement of construction of the congress center and forwarded it to the City Assembly for adoption.
The explanation states that the congress center would represent a significant project for the development and recognition of the identity of the City of Zagreb, especially from a tourism and economic perspective.
Zagreb’s mayor, Milan Bandić, stated that without the 15.6 million kuna, which need to be secured next year, they cannot begin the design and obtain the location and construction permits at the site designated for the congress center next to the Westin hotel, on the site of the former Medika building. The budget of the City of Zagreb for 2009 will be adopted by the City Assembly on December 18, so if a “box” for this project of vital interest to the city, which is equally important as the expansion of the Airport, is not included, the project cannot commence next year, said Bandić.
He emphasized that his idea is for the congress center project to start next year, and stressed that Zagreb cannot be a European metropolis without it, and that we cannot join NATO and the EU without a congress center and the expansion of the Airport.
He pointed out that he will discuss the financing model at the beginning of 2009 with Zagreb and Croatian economic brands and that the priority will be for the most prominent among them to participate together with the City of Zagreb in the construction of this center. “Given the situation we are in and what is coming, this is the most realistic, normal, and responsible solution,” assessed Bandić. (H)
