February 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government on Thursday gave the go-ahead Thursday for the signing of a 57.2 million euro ($62.7 million) lease agreement between state-owned railway passenger carrier HZ Putnicki Prijevoz (HZPP) and Swiss-based railway financing agency EUROFIMA for eleven electric trains.
The loan, to be repaid in 15 years, has a fixed interest rate of 0.6%, infrastructure minister Oleg Butkovic said in a video file published on the government's YouTube channel.
Butkovic also said that Croatia is waiting for a positive response from the European Commission for the purchase of 21 new trains worth a total of 1.2 billion kuna, to be financed under the EU's programme for competitiveness and cohesion.
"With these two procedures we will get a total of 32 new trains [...], which will modernise and upgrade the rolling stock," Butkovic added.
($ = 0.9116 euro)