Croatia is currently investing more than 20 billion kuna (€2.7 billion) in its transport infrastructure, Transport Minister Oleg Butkovic said on Tuesday in response to IMF's recommendation earlier this week that Croatia should increase investments in its railway network.

He announced that on Friday a 500 million kuna (€67.3 million) contract on works on the Vukovar-Vinkovci railway would be signed. Also, on 27 December, a contract worth €311 million to upgrade the Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac railway would be signed.

The latter agreement ensues after on 12 December the European Commission approved an investment of more than €311 million from the Cohesion Fund to upgrade the 44-km Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac section of the Zagreb-Rijeka railway, which is a highly populated area and one of Croatia’s main logistics centres.

According to a report made by the IMF mission, in order to achieve higher living standards, in terms of transportation infrastructure, the country “already has a good network of roads.”

“Investment in ports on the coast are also underway. However, to make these ports fully productive, investment in railways—particularly for freight purposes—also needs to occur.” Investments in both solid waste and waste-water treatment are also high priority areas, reads the report issued on Monday.

Considering this suggestion, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said in his response to reporters that the roads and motorways sector had been successfully overhauled.

As far as the Croatian railways are concerned, a good model should be conceived to spur investments in the infrastructure and enhance the quality of services and competitiveness, and all this on a viable financial basis, said Maric.

(€ 1 = 7.43 kuna)