The company ‘Hrvatske ceste’ will start immediately all preparations regarding the building of a parallel road between Zabok (D-24) and Krapina (D-1), the actual date for the beginning of the construction activities is planned for the first half of 2007, stated the Minister for Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development Božidar Kalmeta at a press conference held after the meeting with the representatives of the Krapina – Zagorje County.
The connection of the state road D-1 just before the hub Krapina towards the county road ŽC 2098 will be finalized by 9 February 2006, which will allow the ‘closing of the system’ regarding toll fee payment - preventing any ongoing illegal entering of the motorway. From 9 February, for the following 40 days, all categories of vehicles will be allowed to use the motorway for free along the route Krapina – Zabok.
After that 40 days period, until the finalization of the parallel road, drivers will enjoy a 56% discount for vehicles of the 1st and 2nd category, regardless of their registration plates. The Minister reminded everybody of the fact that this had been the Government’s decision from one year ago.
All in all the toll fee payment for the route Krapina – Zabok will mount up to HRK 4, and for the route Krapina – Sveti Križ Začretje HRK 1. That discount will be valid only for drivers using the passage between Krapina and Zabok, and not for drivers using the whole motorway. The introduction of the discount will cost the Government, i.e. the State Budget an extra HRK 10-12 million.
Regarding vehicles of the 3rd and 4th category, Kalmeta explained that they were trying to find a solution for a toll fee discount on a local and state level. The Minister pointed out that the Government was trying to meet the interest of the people living in the area of the Krapina – Zagorje County. It is a fact that in their case 9 kilometers of state road has been included in the future motorway, which resulted in the loss of their parallel road, so it has to be reconstructed. Zdravko Livaković, State Secretary for Development underlined that the construction of this 10 kilometer long road would cost from HRK 60 – 70 million.
The County Prefect of the Krapina – Zagorje County, Vlasta Hubicki explained after the meeting that they had hoped it would be possible for them to use the motorway free of charge, until the finalization of the parallel road. Still, they accepted the offer for the discount because they were given the promise that a parallel route would be constructed between Krapina and Zabok.
During 2006 the company 'Hrvatske ceste' will perform all necessary construction activities on parallel county roads ŽC 2098 (Velika Ves-Švaljkovec) and ŽC 2159 (Švaljkovec-Lug Zabočki). All agreed requests will not influence the already planned interventions in the area of the Krapina – Zagorje County, scheduled by the Government's Construction Program and Maintenance of Public Roads 2005-2008.
Other attendees of the meeting were the Assistant Minister Mate Jurišić, County-Prefect Deputy Zorko Vidiček, Mayor of Krapina Josip Horvat, Member of Parliament Ivan Jarnjak and representatives of the companies ‘Hrvatske ceste’ and ‘Autoceste Zagreb – Macelj’.