Port of Ploče Development Workshop

The construction of two terminals in the total value of EUR 79 million should start towards the end of next year at the Port of Ploče. This was stated at the Port of Ploče Development Workshop, jointly organized by the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, the Croatian Office of the World Bank and the Ploče Port Authority. The constructions are a freight bulk terminal in the value of EUR 44 million and a container/multipurpose terminal in the planned value of EUR 35 million.

At the organized press conference Božidar Kalmeta, Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, reported that a pre-agreement had already been signed with the World Bank for financing the necessary project documentation. The construction activities were planned to start towards the end of 2006, and everything should be finalized in two years.

The World Bank"s Country Director for Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania Anand K. Seth, stating his support for the project of reconstructing and modernizing the Port of Ploče, emphasized the importance of establishing traffic routes between the countries of the region, for the development of the Corridor 5C. Seth said: ‘The modernization of the Port of Ploče is a project for the European Croatia, for more than 80% of the cargo served by the Port of Ploče has a destination outside of Croatia."

The two new containers will improve the effectiveness and increase the quality of the service of the Port of Ploče, which is important for the growth of traffic which is expected to result from the revival of the industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina and with the construction of the European Transport Corridor 5C (Budapest – Osijek – Sarajevo – Ploče).

Then, according to Tomislav Batur, director of the Ploče Port Authority, the Port should be able to surmount the pre-war business results and in 2010 it would reach the transport volume of 8 million tons.

Branko Bačić, State Secretary in the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, announced in his presentation his Ministry’s plan to invest the total amount of EUR 600 million in the construction of the port infrastructure of six ports of international economic interest for the Republic of Croatia and county ports, in the period 2004 – 2008.The mentioned amount should be provided entirely from the State Budget.

Bačić said that the investments were necessary for the planned increase of passenger and cargo transport. According to Bačić, the total cargo traffic during the current year in the ports of Croatia would range around 16.9 million tons (increase of 14.3 million over 2004), and the passenger transport would register 6.7 million passengers (increase of 5.7 million over 2004).

 Press Release: World Bank Supports Regional Progress through the Port of Ploče Development

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