The contract regarding the down payment for the Project of sales and transport integration for the Port Ploče, was signed today by the Croatian Minister of Finance and the director of the office of the World Bank for Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia Anand K. Seth.
The Project is of great importance, it includes the building of a big container terminal (EUR 35 million) and a bulk fright terminal (EUR 44 million). The down payment mounts up to of $ 750 000 and it will be used for the preparing of documents, while the total value of the project is estimated at approximately EUR 60 to 70 million.
Minister Šuker stated that the loan was being realized at to the best possible conditions, with a pay back period of 15 years (delay of 5 years) and with an interest rate of 2.3%.
Božidar Kalmeta, the Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, stated in his presentation regarding investments in port systems and with a special emphasis on Port Ploče, that during this Government’s term of office approximately EUR 600 million would be invested in the construction of port infrastructure. He further predicted that with the completion of the construction of both terminals the expected transport at the Port Ploče would rise to 6 million tonnes of cargo considering only the economics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be precise the coal and coke transport at Lukavac and steel transport at Zenica.
The vice – president of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia, Shigeo Katsu, stated that regional development was one of the key- goals of the World Bank. The preparation of the necessary documentation would last one year and the beginning of construction works was planned for the summer of 2006.
Besides the Minister of Finance Ivan Šuker, also present at the signing of this contract were the vice - president of the Croatian Parliament Luka Bebić, Branko Bačić the State Secretary for the Sea, the County – Prefect of the Dubrovnik – Neretva County Ivan Miletić, the Mayor of Ploče Ante Karamatić, the head of the Port Authority Ploče Srećko Erak and the head of the Port Ploče Ivan Pavlović.
INVESTMENTS IN PORT SYSTEMS AND THE TRANSPORT INTEGRATION OF CROATIA WITH A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON PORT PLOČE 