He was speaking at the inauguration of an upgraded electric traction system on sections of the Moravice-Rijeka-Sapjane, Skrljevo-Bakar and Susak Pecine-Rijeka Brajdica railroad in which HRK 637 million was invested. As a result of the upgrade, Croatian Railways' (HZ) Infrastructure division now has a single electric traction system, which will facilitate transport, reduce energy costs and help in retaining jobs.
Antesic said this was one of the most valuable investments in Croatia and that further investments would be made to upgrade existing railways and to build new tracks, notably on the Rijeka-Zagreb-Botovo corridor, through European Union funds.
The government's priority is to strengthen the financing of HZ Infrastructure through loans and, in the future, other sources, in order to upgrade the tracks which would become part of the EU grid and be connected to the Baltic-Adriatic corridor as of July 1, 2013.
The 5b corridor from Rijeka to Zagreb and the Hungarian border as well as from Rijeka to Zagreb, Maribor and Graz, and corridor 10 from Bregana to Tovarnik will be part of the European grid, Antesic said, adding that Croatia did not have enough money in the budget to build the transport infrastructure.
HZ Infrastructure Board chairman Darko Pericic said EUR 550 million would be invested in upgrading the rail infrastructure in the next three years.
(Hina)