The total revenue of highway concessionaires in Croatia from tolls in the period from the beginning of the year to the end of September amounted to 1.6 billion kuna (excluding VAT), announced the Croatian Association of Highway Concessionaires with Toll Collection (HUKA) in its bulletin.
Compared to the same period last year, the total revenue of the four highway concession companies increased by 9.5 percent. The highest revenue of 981.9 million kuna was achieved by Hrvatske autoceste (HAC). The concessionaire Autocesta Rijeka-Zagreb (ARZ) collected 405.1 million kuna from tolls on the same highway in the first nine months, Autoceste Zagreb-Macelj (AZM) 124.7 million kuna, and Bina Istra 104.7 million kuna. HUKA’s statistics show that the revenues of the concessionaire companies grew from 3.2 percent at HAC to as much as 18 percent at ARZ and Autoceste Zagreb-Macelj, but such high revenue growth at these two companies, as explained, is due to the expansion of the concession area for ARZ since September 1 of last year and the collection of tolls on the Krk Bridge and the Rupa-Rijeka highway, while for Autoceste Zagreb-Macelj, it was due to the opening of the new section Krapina-Macelj (in June 2007). A slight decline in toll revenue for Bina Istra, by 1.1 percent, was influenced by the reconstruction that began in September 2007 on the county road Novigrad-Poreč due to the repair of the Antenal Bridge, which caused drivers to use the B-9 section over the Mirna Bridge, as noted in the bulletin. According to HUKA’s statistical data, in the first nine months of this year, HAC recorded the highest traffic, more than 24.8 million vehicles, ARZ 12.7 million, AZM 5.07 million, and Bina Istra 3.8 million vehicles. A total of 1,926 traffic accidents occurred on Croatian highways in the first nine months. In 40 traffic accidents, a total of 63 people lost their lives. (H)
