Bojan Hlača, director of the Rijeka Port Authority, signed today four agreements within the Rijeka Gateway Project. The Project is being financed through a loan granted by the World Bank, in the amount of $ 55.1 million.
The agreement regarding the clearing of non-functional objects from the area of the Port of Baroš and the southern Delta was signed with the Croatian company G.P.P. Mikić from Omišalj. The domestic company ‘Konstruktor Inženjering’ was entrusted with the building of the passenger terminal object at the Rijeka jetty. The construction of the 300 meters long Zagreb Quay was negotiated with the Japanese company Kajima and the supervision of all the construction work was handed over to the company Hill International from the Netherlands.
'This is a very important day for the Port of Rijeka because those four agreements stand for the largest construction interventions in the history of the port. They represent the port’s strong development and confirm its position along the whole traffic route', emphasized Hlača. He added that the building of the container terminal on the Zagreb Quay would lift this port to the level of the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg.
'By signing these agreements 90% of the Rijeka Gateway Project will be realized by 2009, which is the largest investment in the new history of the port', emphasized Branko Bačić the State Secretary for Sea. He also announced further investments in the port for the upcoming four years – a total of EUR 600 million.
The Prefect of Rijeka, Vojko Obersnel, pointed out that with this Projects the port as well as the city of Rijeka would be modernized – because by locating all port activities in one place, new and valuable space would be won. This free space would allow the citizens to communicate more directly with the sea.
Anand Seth, World Bank Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe announced the further support of this international financial institution regarding the Pan-European traffic Corridor 5C, i.e. the construction of the port terminals in the Port of Ploče. At the same time, he emphasized that for joining the EU it was important to provide good infrastructure and high quality of services.
