EUR 225 million from EU funds for 8 water infrastructure projects in Croatia

Croatia has secured total of EUR 225 million from the EU funds for eight water infrastructure projects, the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Croatia announced.

The water infrastructure project in the island of Krk, worth EUR 86 million, will be funded with EUR 49.7 million from the EU funds. The co-financing contract for Krk project was signed on July 27 while contracts on the allocation of total of EUR 175 million for seven other water infrastructure projects were signed day earlier.

The total value of the eight contracts is EUR 404 million. Apart of the island of Krk, the projects will be implemented in various part of the country: in town of Poreč, Vukovar, Županja, Nova Gradiška, Vodice and Osijek where two projects will be implemented.

“The implementation of these projects will contribute to the environment protection and to the citizens’ quality of life,” the Croatian Minister of Environment and Energy Tomislav Ćorić said.

The State Secretary at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds Spomenka Djuric said that the main goal is to improve the overall water situation in Croatia, adding that the country is in the fifth place in Europe for its drinking water resources.

Zoran Djuroković, Director General of Croatian water utility company, Hrvatske vode, said that Croatia has started to use EUR 997 million funds which are allocated for its water projects in the EU’s Multiannual financial framework for the period 2014-2020.

He said that new projects have been under preparation and that he expects contracts on the allocation of EUR 674 million from EU funds to be signed by the end of September, which means that Croatia will use available funds for projects in the water sector.

The European Commission has recently announced that EUR 266 million from the EU Cohesion Fund will be invested in four major water infrastructure projects in Romania.