The current PPP Act was adopted in 2008 but the legislative framework has not been transparent enough and implementation has been very slow, said Economy Minister Radimir Cacic.
"When Croatia didn't have a PPP Act, 34 such projects were realised in Varazdin County and one in Koprivnica-Krizevci County, but none since the law was passed," he said.
Under the new law, the time in which the Finance Ministry and the PPP Agency have to give their consent for a project is reduced from 180 to 30 days, after which all stages can be completed in six to ten months, as against 18 until now, said Cacic.
The new law allows the commercial use of parts of public buildings and enables the signing of contracts for longer than 40 years, but only if such a deadline is defined by a separate law.
The government is giving another chance to entrepreneurs with a tax debt who have not applied for rescheduling to do so. It proposed amendments to the law on the collection of tax debts caused by the economic crisis which give entrepreneurs one more month to apply for the rescheduling of debts accumulated by 31 January 2012.
More than 8,500 requests have been made to reschedule the tax debt over 36 months and more than 5,000 for a one-time repayment with a write-off of the default interest, said Finance Minister Slavko Linic.