Seven Contracts Signed from EU Funds Worth 182 Million Kuna

On Friday, seven contracts for the allocation of non-repayable funds from EU funds, totaling 182 million kuna, were signed at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, covering the areas of e-services, healthcare, social care, and intervention plans for war-affected and deprived areas.

– Today we signed seven contracts from the Operational Program Competitiveness and Cohesion, with a total value of 182 million kuna in the areas of e-services, healthcare, social care, and intervention programs for the City of Vukovar and Beli Manastir, of which 161 million kuna are non-repayable funds, accounting for 87 percent of the total amount, said Minister Gabrijela Žalac.

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The most valuable among the seven contracts is for eHZZO, i.e., for the construction of an integrated information system of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund, with a total value of 114.7 million kuna, of which 98 million are non-repayable funds.

There are also two healthcare projects – for day hospitals and one-day surgeries at the General Hospital in Šibenik worth 46.4 million kuna, and for improving access and quality of service in primary healthcare in Šibenik-Knin County worth 6.7 million kuna.

New eHZZO System

The signing was also attended by Minister of Health Milan Kujundžić, who expressed his particular pleasure that around 52 million kuna is going to Šibenik-Knin County to improve the quality of healthcare services, primarily in day hospitals, but also in primary care offices.

Director of HZZO Lucijan Vukelić stated that the funds received will be spent over the next four years on the consolidation and construction of the new eHZZO system, as a platform for networking with other services and ministries, Fina, APIS, hospitals, health centers, etc., within the Shared Services Center.

Project Documentation

A contract worth 2.7 million kuna was signed with the City of Vukovar for the preparation of documentation for the construction of the Economic School of Vukovar, which, according to Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava, has been in a temporary inadequate location for 12 years. The goal is to complete all work on the project documentation this year, to conduct a tender by mid-next year so that work can begin, with the building expected to be completed within three years, he said.

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Contracts were also signed with the Social Welfare Center Donja Stubica for 3.4 million kuna to promote deinstitutionalization through infrastructure improvement, with the City of Benkovac for 998,000 kuna for the development of thematic routes of ancient and medieval towns in the Benkovac area, and with the City of Beli Manastir for 7 million kuna for the renovation of the Branjin Vrh home.

Minister Žalac reported that Croatia is currently at 37 percent of the contracted amount from 10.7 billion euros available to us, which is about 4 billion euros that we have opened.