The EIB 2 programme was launched in 2004. Of 661 sub-projects that have been approved, in the total amount of HRK 3.7 billion, 362 have been completed, totalling HRK 1.9 billion, while 182 are still under way, totalling HRK 996 million.
Regional Development Minister Branko Grcic said HRK 430 million would be paid for the sub-projects under way this year and HRK 566 million in 2013.
The sub-projects will be financed with the EIB loans and central government and local self-government funds. The money will be invested in the municipal and social infrastructure.
Grcic said the projects would give thousands of people jobs in contractor companies and that they focused on local self-government units in central and eastern Croatia, notably Slavonia, which, he said, is the least developed region in the country.
Ninety sub-projects are under way in central and eastern Croatia, 44 in the northwest and 48 along the coast.
There was no political influence in the selection of locations, Grcic said.
He went on to say that the EIB 3 project would be launched this year and that HRK 141 million from the state budget would be spent on it - HRK 111 million on the completion of EIB 2 sub-projects and HRK 30 million on 14 new sub-projects.
Investments in 196 projects co-financed from the EIB 2 and EIB 3 programmes exceed HRK 1 billion, of which HRK 471 million will be paid this year, said Grcic.
Also today, the government sent to parliament amendments to the laws on weapons and official statistics, which have been aligned with the European Union acquis communautaire, as well as amendments to the law on the protection of ships and seaports.