January 12 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government said it approved on Thursday a 15 million euro ($16 million) loan for Dubrovnik Airport from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance an upgrade project.
The airport plans to expand its land and airside infrastructure under an upgrade project worth a total 246 million euro, which was launched in 2010, transport minister Oleg Butkovic said during a cabinet meeting.
In July last year, the European Commission approved 158 million euro in financing for the project, he noted.
The minister explained that the remaining 88 million euro will be secured by Dubrovnik Airport, of which 55.5 million euro from its own funds and 32.5 million euro in loans from the state-owned Hrvatska banka za obnovu i razvitak (HBOR) and the EIB.
Dubrovnik has already concluded two loans for the upgrades project. In 2015, it signed a 7 million euro loan with the European Investment Bank and a 10.5 million euro loan with state-run development bank HBOR.
The most recent loan with the EIB will be concluded for a 15 year period with a three year grace.
In 2015, the airport handled 1.7 million passengers, up 6.9%.
($=0.9380 euro)