Today, the Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković, along with the President of the Management Board of HZ Infrastructure Ivan Kršić and the Director of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency Tomislav Petric, signed a Grant Agreement for the project "Reconstruction of the existing and the construction of a second track on the Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac rail section".
The 44 kilometre rail section Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac is situated on the Zagreb Main Station – Rijeka railway. Its reconstruction, including the construction of a second track, will not only enhance suburban transport in the Zagreb and Karlovac areas, but will ultimately affect the competitiveness of the Port of Rijeka by improving its connectivity with Central European markets.
The project “Reconstruction of the existing and the construction of a second track on the Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac rail section” is worth 303 million euros, and 85% of the amount is financed by the EU Cohesion Fund through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020.
“We have attached our signatures to one of the largest infrastructure projects in Croatia, the second most valuable after the Peljesac Bridge, and so begun the construction of the lowland railway to Rijeka in this goverment’s tenure.”, Minister Butković pointed out, stressing that transport infrastructure is benefiting from 2,7 billion euros in investment right now, distributed over 85 projects.
The contract signing ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković. “Having built roads and invested in maritime ports and airports, now it is the railways’ turn. The signing of this contract is important for the city of Karlovac and its citizens who will benefit from a higher quality, faster railway connection with Zagreb.“, the Prime Minister stressed. He pointed out the fortunate timing of the signing, a mere few days ahead of the start of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, since it provides another example of the importance of Croatia’s EU membership, for transport infrastructure development, among other things.
At the signing, the President of the Management Board of HZ Infrastructure, Ivan Kršić, emphasized that the contract signature denotes the start of construction on the lowland railway between Zagreb and Rijeka, while the Director of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency, Tomislav Petric, proclaimed there could be no better way to end the year than by signing the construction contract for the second largest infrastructure project in Croatia.