March 28 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's government draft bill for the allocation of part of Koper harbour's revenue for financing a key railway overhaul project drеw fire from operator Luka Koper [LJE:LKPG] on Tuesday.
The bill would limit the competitive advantages of Koper harbour over port operators in the North Adriatic, as it would no longer be able to invest in infrastructure, machinery and equipment, Luka Koper said in a bourse filing.
With the allocation of part of Luka Koper's revenue, the Slovenian government aims to ensure the co-financing of a project for the construction of a second rail track to the Divaca logistics hub, in order to apply for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The deadline for submitting applications for the blending call running currently expires on July 14, the Slovenian government said last week.
The project envisages an investment of at least 1 billion euro for the construction of a 21 km long rail track that will provide a faster link from Koper port to Divaca hub, a key infrastructure for the storage of cargo exported and imported from the sole Slovenian trade port. The project costs are high because, due to the terrain, it will include the construction of tunnels, viaducts and bridges.
The bill envisages the introduction of a tax on Luka Koper to finance part of the construction works and if applied to the 2016 throughput data, its sum would total 17.9 million euro ($19.4 million), decreasing the earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin to 27.9% from 37.3% and return on investment (ROE) to 9% from 13.8%, Luka Koper said.
"If inhibiting further development of the port, the construction of an additional railway infrastructure should really be called into question, also by considering that the initial intention was that the port’s development and growth would generate additional quantities to be dispatched by new railway capacities," Luka Koper pointed out.
The new regulation would affect not only the position of the port operator Luka Koper but also the position of all commercial companies and other business entities whose activity is related to the Koper port, such as agents, forwarding agents and inspection companies, Luka Koper added.
Slovenia's infrastructure ministry published the bill last week and it will be subject to public consultation until Wednesday. The government aims to submit the bill for voting in Parliament under an accelerated procedure thereafter.
Koper port is in fierce competition with Italy's Venice and Trieste as well as Croatia's Rijeka harbours for attracting cargo traffic from and to landlocked central European countries such as Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Luka Koper's consolidated net profit amounted to 44.4 million euro in 2016, up from 32.4 million euro a year earlier.
($ = 0.920954 euro)