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€90 million from EBRD to complete Croatian motorway
Investment saves drivers time and strengthens road sector management
An important motorway connecting Croatia's capital Zagreb with the port town of Rijecka, a popular destination for tourists and a hub for sea-borne transport, is to be completed with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
In Zagreb today, the EBRD said it will provide a €90 million loan to Croatia's Autocesta Rijeka-Zagreb (ARZ), a state-owned toll motorway company, to build two key sections on the M12 motorway. The completion of the motorway is expected to cut the current journey time between the cities by 30 minutes. The EBRD loan, which is guaranteed by the Republic of Croatia, will also help ARZ undertake initial steps in preparation for privatisation.
Johan Bastin, the EBRD's Business Group Director for Infrastructure, said completion of the motorway would strengthen the Croatian transport sector. He explained that the two new sections will remove significant bottlenecks to drivers who use this popular route, as well as enable Croatia's tourism to expand by allowing tourists to reach the coast more safely and quickly. "An efficient road network is essential in supporting a country's economy," Mr Bastin noted.
Under the agreement, the EBRD will also promote a series of initiatives to support the country's continued restructuring of the road sector. This includes strengthening the long-tern financial capacity to fund future road maintenance and construction, as well as to develop necessary institutions such as a road board that will help determine strategic priorities across the sector. Mr Bastin said: "Effective management is important for the long-term efficiency of effective road provisioning."
Mr Slavko Linic, Deputy Premier Minister of Croatia, said: "This is an important day for Croatia and ARZ. The project has a wider significance since the motorway is part of the European Union Pan-European Transport Corridor number V, which runs from Rijeka, in our country, all the way to Lvov, in Ukraine."
It is the second time that the EBRD has been involved in the Croatian road sector. In 1994, the EBRD supported the Highway Reconstruction Project, which financed completion of the Ostrovica to Delnica roadway and supported a national road rehabilitation programme.
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