HŽ Infrastruktura presented projects worth 14.6 million euros

HŽ Infrastruktura has presented two projects worth 14.6 million euros, under which project documentation will be prepared over the next three years for the renovation of the existing and construction of a new section of the railway on the Rijeka route, which, with funds from EU funds, is expected to start in 2016.

These are preparations for projects and other project documentation for the reconstruction and construction of the railway/second track on the section Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac, worth 5.5 million euros, and documentation for the construction of a new double-track railway on the section Goljak – Skradnik, worth 9.1 million euros. Of this, 85 percent is financed from EU funds, and 15 percent by the Croatian Government.

Contracts for these projects were signed in November and September of this year under the IPA fund, and HŽ Infrastruktura has a total of 12 projects for the modernization of railways financed from EU funds, said the CEO of HŽ Infrastruktura, Darko Peričić. Partners on the projects are the Italian company Italfer and the Polish company URS Polska, and both will also include domestic engineers and companies/cooperatives.

When these two projects are completed, they will be offered for financing from EU funds, and since these are projects on branch b of the V. pan-European corridor, Perinčić believes, as does the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, that they will pass the tender.

The Minister also stated that this strengthens the Rijeka route and aligns with the development plans of the Port of Rijeka, which, when strengthened, may re-activate the lowland railway on that route in ten or more years. For now, that railway would not be profitable without the developed Port of Rijeka, so it has not been abandoned but postponed, he noted.

A total of about 3 billion euros will be needed for the Rijeka railway route from Rijeka to the Hungarian border, and to obtain this from EU funds, the European Commission needs to be convinced to include corridor V.b and X. (on which the railway towards Novska and Okučani, which is also being renovated with EU funds, is located) in the basic European routes, namely the Mediterranean and Baltic-Adriatic corridor, starting from July 1 of next year, Hajdaš Dončić indicated.

He also noted that an accelerated process of structural transformation of Croatian Railways is underway, which is now divided into three parts – Infrastructure, Cargo, and Passenger Transport, thereby creating the prerequisites for opening a non-discriminatory railway services market.

HŽ Infrastruktura is becoming the national provider of route services, and although the most people have been laid off from its structure, the minister emphasizes that he is most satisfied with them, while he stated that changes in Passenger Transport and Cargo are progressing more slowly, but he believes that order will soon be established there as well.

He mentioned that a total of about 3,200 workers (out of a total of about 17,400) will be laid off from the HŽ system from the beginning to the end of this year, which has all been coordinated with social partners. The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Branko Grčić, stated at the project presentation that the renewal of railway infrastructure is one of the most important parts of the Government’s operational program that will be financed from EU funds.

He reminded that at this moment there are projects in Croatia worth 350 million euros that should be financed from 2013 to 2015, and that the total value of projects that will be prepared for co-financing from EU funds over the next three years is two billion euros.