Minister: Croatian Railways must be overhauled, has 5,000 surplus workers

Croatian Transport and Infrastructure Minister ZLATKO KOMADINA has said that the Croatian Railways, whose budget for 2012 has been reduced by HRK 543 million kuna, must be overhauled and that there was a surplus of 5,000 people in the HZ group.

Commenting on the government's draft budget, which envisages that the funds for the Croatian railway operator should be cut by 543 million kuna, the minister told reporters on Monday that "unfortunately, the years of pouring state money (into the HZ) without its restructuring have led to this situation.

"At this moment the HZ and its management are those that must find funds on the capital market and carry out restructuring," the minister said, adding that over the last eight years, two billion kuna had been allocated to the HZ annually "without any spectacular headway".

As for the labour surplus, the minister said he would not use the term "termination of employment" but that they would be laid off with severance packages.


(Hina)