The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, said on Tuesday that his ministry has so far successfully signed contracts for 58 EU-funded projects worth 12.7 billion kuna in total, making it the most successful cabinet ministry in utilising EU funds.

He added that the greatest upcoming challenges in the future will be the restructuring the national railways and finding a strategic partner for the national flag carrier Croatia Airlines.

Speaking at a conference on the development of Croatia’s transport system organised in Zagreb by the Vecernji List daily, Butkovic said that a comprehensive government strategy for the transport sector had been adopted in August 2017, based on which Croatia will apply for projects in the sector.

“The goals, set to be achieved by 2030, are to make transport sustainable, profitable, safe. The sector must spur economic development, and should also serve to help integration of Croatia into the EU, in terms of improving its connection to (continental) transport corridors,” Butkovic said.

He added that restructuring the state-owned railways poses the greatest challenge at the moment, and the process is expected to be more difficult compared to the state-owned companies in the road transport sector. These will include a plan to be devised by the end of 2018, in addition to finding a strategic partner for the state-owned cargo railways HZ Cargo.

Butkovic said that investing in infrastructure is key to make the sector sustainable and competitive, and identified the yet-to-be-built Zagreb-Rijeka railroad as a crucial project, saying that Croatia should work to convince the European Commission that this is the most important project in Croatia after the Peljesac Bridge.

In air transport, Butkovic said one of the biggest challenges is the national flag carrier Croatia Airlines, which completed its restructuring, but finding a strategic partner for it is the company’s “only way forward”, and added that the government had plans to actively look for such a partner this year.

He added that over the first three months of 2018 passenger traffic has increased by 20 percent, as a result of improvements to Croatia’s airport infrastructure.

In road transport, he said that the government’s plan for the financial and business restructuring of state-owned road management companies has already saved the country more than 50 million euros in lower loan interests alone. The plan envisions their debts to be paid by 2033, which is helped by the increased traffic and revenue in state-operated motorways, which were up by 6 and 8.4 percent respectively in the first five months of 2018.

In terms of ongoing projects, Butkovic said that the Peljesac Bridge is key. The construction of the bridge, which has been awarded to the Chinese CRBC consortium, should begin very soon, he added.

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