Groundbreaking ceremony for a secure water supply in western Croatia

The big day arrived on 13th November 2018. In the Croatian municipality of Fužine the groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation of the water supply plant serving the town of Delnice and the municipalities of Fužine and Brod Moravice took place. The existing water supply network is ca. 310 km long. Parts of it require renovation, and in addition settlements and populated areas which are not currently connected to the network, should be.

igr AG (a member of the BKW engineering network), along with its subsidiary company igr d.o.o., has taken on responsibility for the assessment of the contract conditions, the detailed planning and inventory planning and their approval, as well as the construction supervision, auditing, reporting and time and cost management.

The project was officially launched with welcoming speeches and a project presentation in the presence of many distinguished representatives. Among them were: the Swiss ambassador to Croatia, Ms. Emilija Georgiev Regamey; the representative of the Swiss State Office for Economic Affairs (SECO), Mr. Ralph Ammann; the Croatian Minister for Environmental Protection and Energy, Dr. sc. Tomislav Ćorić; the Secretary of State of the Ministry for Regional Development and EU funding, Mr. Velimir Žunac; Mr. sc. Zoran Đuroković the director general of Hrvatske vode; Mr. Marko Veselčić, the project leader; representative of the construction companies; and representatives of igr and its construction supervision team.

This project has made possible through a decision made within the EU enlargement framework, which states that Switzerland will contribute to the reduction of economic and social inequality within the enlarged EU.

A corresponding framework agreement between the Swiss Federal Council and the government of the Republic of Croatia concerning the implementation of the Swiss-Croatian cooperation programme was signed in 2015. From the up to 45 million CHF made available, ca. 21 million are earmarked for the financing of environmental and infrastructure projects.

A part of this money is now being used for the co-financing of the water supply in Delnice, Fužine and Brod Moravice. Switzerland has agreed to finance up to 85% of the construction and ancillary costs. The remaining share will be split between Hrvatske vode (Croatian Water) who are responsible for project management (min. 5 %), and the project lead organisation, Komunalac – vodoopskrba i odvodnja in Delnice (10 %).

In the current construction phase, 3,5 km of new water pipelines will be laid, and 9,3 km will be renovated. The construction costs amount to ca. 2,2 million EUR, of which ca. 1,6 million EUR is co-financing from SECO.

The department of economic cooperation and development at the Swiss State Office for Economic Affairs (SECO) is providing support for the financed projects and will monitor the use of funds.

Construction begins in spring 2019.

Suzana Josipović, igr d.o.o., Zagreb, Kroatien

Image-Source:www.komunalac.hr/VIO