December 17 (SeeNews) - Croatia plans to invest 3 billion euro ($3.3 billion) in improving its railway network in the next 10 years, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
"These are huge investments, which we need to implement using our own funds and European funding being made available to us," Plenkovic said in a statement on Monday.
He was speaking at the official opening of the first new railroad to be built in Croatia in the past 50 years - the 12.2 km long section connecting Gradec to Sveti Ivan Zabno, part of the railroad connecting Zagreb to the eastern town of Bjelovar.
The 258 million kuna ($39 million/35 million euro) project was financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund.
At present, railway infrastructure projects worth 1.25 billion euro in total are in progress in the Adriatic country, according to the statement.
Also on Monday, the International Monetary Fund urged Croatia to invest more in improving its railway infrastructure, in particular for freight purposes, in order to make its upgraded port infrastructure fully productive.
(1 euro = 7.44374 kuna)