The construction of a national children's hospital in the Zagreb district of Blato is expected to start in 2024 and a preliminary design tender will be advertised in the coming weeks, the Health Ministry says, adding that this will be the first hospital in Zagreb south of the Sava river.

The €300 million worth greenfield project will be financed from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and other forms of EU funding.

The hospital will span 100,000 square meters and be built in two stages.

The Health Ministry and the City of Zagreb have been conducting meetings on the realization of this project so that the city land in Blato can be ceded, on the condition that the hospital will be fully built. The last meeting focused on the property-rights relations that need to be settled.

Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said about ten days ago there was good will to solve the property-rights disputes between the city and the stated related to the land in Blato. The city is ready to sell its part to the state so that a children’s hospital could be built, he added.

The Health Ministry completed a feasibility study at the end of last year, which shows that construction could start in 2024.

According to the study, the national children’s hospital would be a greenfield investment on the eastern part of a future university hospital.

Eighty-four percent of the children’s hospital’s energy will come from renewables, including solar panels and the geothermal springs on that location.

The ministry says this is a strategic health system project.