ZAGREB (Croatia), September 30 (SeeNews) – The local parliament of Croatia’s Split-Dalmatia County has unanimously endorsed an offer made by Austrian energy services company EVN to operate a regional gas network under a 30-year concession arrangement, Croatian media reported.
The final draft of the contract between EVN and the county is expected to be reviewed by parliament two months from now, web portal DalmacijaNEWS (www.dalmlacijanews.com) reported on Tuesday.
According to EVN estimates, the total cost of the project is 370 million kuna ($74.4 million/50.9 million euro), the web portal reported, quoting Ranko Vujicic, assistant to the county's head of economic affairs.
It is planned that the whole project should be completed by the end of 2011, Vujicic said.
The Dalmatian gas distribution network is projected to pump 101.7 million cubic metres of natural gas annually to 81,000 customers, DalmacijaNews said.
EVN was the only bidder in a tender for the construction of the distribution network launched by the county in July, the web portal also said.
The annual royalty payable by the concessionaire will have a fixed component of 10,000 kuna and a floating component equal to 0.1% of revenues from gas distribution.
Croatia's natural gas consumption totalled 3.2 billion cubic metres in 2008.
At present, EVN supplies electrical energy to approximately 2.3 million customers in Bulgaria and Macedonia and district heat to more than 40,000 customers in the Plovdiv region of Bulgaria, according to data form the Austrian company's website.
(1 euro=7.2741 Croatian Kuna)