The ITT Croatia Integration and Transport Project is expected to be launched next year and be completed in 2011.
The project is being prepared by the ministry and the Ploce Port Authority, with the support of the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Its main objective is to upgrade the capacity and efficiency of the southern Croatian port as well as services on the south end of Corridor Vc, said Minister Bozidar Kalmeta.
The project will kickstart the economic development of southern Croatia as well as the entire region, he added.
The project envisages the construction of a container terminal and one for bulk freight. Seventy million euros will be spent on infrastructure and 27 million on suprastructure.
Twenty-five per cent of the funds (EUR17.5 million) will be secured from the national budget, while Ploce Port will secure EUR52.5 million through a loan and another EUR27 million for investing in suprastructure, said Kalmeta.
The port's annual turnover is expected to grow from two million tons in 2004 to 7.2 million tons in 2010. The port will increase its capacity for bulk freight to 8.9 million tons, while container turnover is expected to jump from 17,000 to 40,000 tons.
The World Bank director for Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, Anand Seth, said the Bank was satisfied with the progress in the project's preparation since last August. He added the project would benefit the development of both Croatia and the European Corridor Vc.
Seth refuted media allegations that Bosnia and Herzegovina would reap all the benefits of the project or that the World Bank would grant Croatia a loan provided that the Ploce Port was sold to Bosnian companies. He underlined that these claims were unfounded.
Asked by the press if the World Bank would approve the project, Seth said he hoped this would happen in the next few months. Minister Kalmeta too said there was no possibility of the project being rejected.