IPA funds absorption rate rising to 70 pct

The current rate of absorption of Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds is 43 per cent but it will rise to 70 per cent after the completion of tenders that are under way, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

Currently under way is an IPA programme consisting of five components. The allocation of IPA funds for Croatia in the 2007-09 period amounted to EUR 417.9 million.

An additional EUR 331.9 million has been approved for the 2010-11 period.

The IPA funds allocated to Croatia in the 2007-11 period amount to EUR 749.8 million, according to a report on the absorption of European Union pre-accession funds between July 1 and December 31, 2010 which the government forwarded to parliament in early April.

In the first of the five IPA components, 92.22 per cent of the funds were absorbed (EUR 36.8 million), while the rest refers to savings in public procurement.

The signing of contracts for projects in the remaining four components is under way.

Of the EUR 315 million allocated for the first four components of the IPA programme in 2007-09, EUR 135.1 million has been absorbed (43 per cent). When one adds the transport and environment projects for which contracts are pending, the absorption rate will be 70 per cent (EUR 219.1 million).

The absorption rate in the transport component is 17.7 per cent but it will jump to 81.4 per cent thanks to a tender under way for an Okucani-Novska railroad project.

Several water supply and waste water projects have been approved in the environmental protection component. Two waste management projects will be approved by the end of the year, whereby the entire 2007-09 allocation for this component will be used, while the absorption rate in the 2007-11 period will be 60 per cent.

Of the funds allocated in the 2007-09 period, the absorption rate has been 44.7 per cent for regional competitiveness and 71.2 per cent for the development of human resources.

The IPARD programme, for which EUR 129.4 million was set aside in the 2007-09 period, has had the lowest absorption rate, of 9.97 per cent (EUR 10.26 million).

The ministry said one of the reasons for that was that regulations for IPARD (pre-accession support for the agricultural sector) are the most demanding and that the agency for payments in agriculture, fisheries and rural development obtained all the necessary clearances only in late 2009, with the first tenders called in February 2010.


(Hina)

Announcements