March 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia's Rijeka city and public transport company Autotrolej have signed 48.5 million kuna ($7.4 million/6.5 million euro) deals with local companies Auto Hrvatska and Autobus for the procurement of 22 diesel buses, the city government said.
The project will be financed with 38 million kuna from the EU's Cohesion Fund, while the Croatian government and Autotrolej will contribute the remainder, the Rijeka city government said in a statement on Tuesday.
The city will receive 4 articulated low-floor urban buses, 9 solo low-floor urban-suburban buses and 9 solo suburban vehicles, all of them complying with the EURO 6 emission standards. Delivery is expected in the last quarter of 2019.
Auto Hrvatska will provide 9 MAN Lion’s City A21 buses, with 36 seats and capacity of 80 passengers, and 4 MAN Lion’s City G A23 buses with 40 seats and a capacity of 144 passengers. Autobus will provide 9 buses of the Iveco Crossway Line 12M model, with 49 seats and a capacity of 74 passengers.
Rijeka is set to purchase a further 32 new buses next year using EU funds:. 7 articulated city diesel buses, 10 diesel minibuses and 15 solo vehicles. Out of the 15 solo buses, 10 will run on compressed natural gas (CNG), while 5 will run on diesel fuel.
The total cost of the project is 63.7 million kuna, VAT excluded, according to the statement.
In the last few years, Autotrolej has acquired 40 new CNG buses worth almost 74 million kuna. CO2 emissions have been reduced by about 1,400 tons per year thanks to their use.
(1 euro = 7.42643 kuna)