Although planned for the beginning of this year, the new electronic toll collection system in Croatia will be put into operation as late as the end of 2025, the Vecernji List newspaper wrote on Tuesday.

Once installed on the motorways managed by the state-owned HAC company and the much smaller Bina Istra joint-stock road company, the toll will be charged automatically via an upgraded version of the electronic toll collection and a number plate recognition system, without vehicles needing to stop at a toll booth.

To get most of the money needed for the new system, the government has decided to apply for EU funding, including this project in the national recovery and resilience program 2021-26 which was sent to the European Commission for approval. The project was presented as part of the digitization program, and an effort to develop a “competitive, sustainable and efficient” transport and traffic system.

The value of the project is estimated at 730 million kuna (€97 million) without VAT, or 912 million kuna (€121 million) including VAT.

Until the new system is put in place, HAC plans to switch to a cashless-only payment service at 18 of its 76 toll booths where the toll will be charged by the existing electronic toll system or paid by bank cards. These toll points normally see very little traffic, especially in wintertime, the newspaper said.

(€1 = 7.55 kuna)