April 20 (SeeNews) - Slovania's government plans to start talks with the Czech Republic for a potential investment in Slovenian state-run project company 2TDK, which is in charge of building a second track of the Divaca-Koper railway line, Slovenian infrastructure minister Jernej Vrtovec said.
"We will also start talks with the Czechs, we are in Prague on May 4 to discuss this topic. For example, for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Koper port is of strategic importance," Vrtovec said in a video file posted on the website of Slovenian public broadcaster RTV on Sunday.
Slovenia is currently in talks with Hungary on a potential investment in 2TDK, Vrtovec said.
According to Slovenian media reports, Hungary is interested in injecting 200 million euro ($241 million) into the capital of 2TDK, in order to increase it to 522 million euro. Currently, the Slovenian government owns the entire 322 million euro capital of 2TDK. In return, the Hungarian government hopes to receive a concession on part of Koper port, RTV reported.
Last month, the 2TDK supervisory board selected a consortium comprising Kolektor CPG and Turkish companies Yapi Merkezi and Ozaltin as a contractor for the construction of both sections of the 27.1 km railway line.
Luka Koper, the company operating Slovenia's Adriatic port of Koper, said in April it expects that the second railway track to Divaca will begin operations in 2026.
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