Deputy Prime Minister and Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butkovic announced on Thursday that theGovernment has initiated procedures for concluding a financing agreement between the Republic of Croatia and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a EUR 400 million project to revitalize the Croatian railway system – the purpose of which is to significantly improve the safety of passengers and staff in rail transport, and also increase the capacity and modernization of the Croatian railway infrastructure.According to Butkovic, this decision accepts a draft of the financing agreement as the basis for negotiations between the government and representatives of the EIB, and also determines the composition of the Croatian delegation in the conduct of the negotiations.A loan totaling EUR 400 million will be realized based on the financing agreement, and will have a drawdown period of 60  months, said Butkovic, and also noted that there is a total planned EUR 900 million framework loan intended for financing the project, the realization of which is expected in the next ten-year period.The government decision authorizes the head of the delegation to sign on behalf of the Croatian delegation the minutes of the negotiations, as well as other necessary documentation, and also authorizes the Minister of Finance to sign the financing agreement on behalf of the Republic of Croatia.At the Government session held on 2 November 2023, the Government adopted a resolution according to which it  accepted the Revitalization of the Railway System of the Republic of Croatia Project, which would be either financed or co-financed by aframework loan from the EIB in the total amount of EUR 900 million. The purpose of this framework loan would be to finance orco-finance indicative projects of the state-owned Hrvatske zeljeznice (HZ) Infrastruktura in the amount of EUR 714.6 million, aswell as indicative projects of HZ Passenger Transport amounting to EUR 185.3 million. (ICE ZAGABRIA)

Fonte notizia: Novi list, 27.12.2023.