ZAGREB, May 21, 2018 - Works on the extension and repair of the existing drainage system in Varaždin, which is as part of the Varaždin Agglomeration project, worth more than 855 million kuna, began on Monday on the outskirts of this northern Croatian city.
In the past month or so, three construction sites have been opened, and the Crnec Biskupečki site, opened today, is the fourth and last site in the Varaždin Agglomeration project, which encompasses the town of Varaždin and ten surrounding municipalities.
The agglomeration project entails the construction of a public drainage grid with a total length of 241.487 kilometres, 108 pump stations and three retention pools as well as repairs to 2,645 kilometres of existing pipelines.
The value of the entire project is 855.8 million kuna and the European Union is providing 488.7 million kuna.
The latest construction site was opened by Construction and Physical Planning Minister Predrag Štromar and Environmental Protection and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić.
Štromar underscored that the project had been in preparation for ten years and that all government levels were cooperating on it. Minister Ćorić added that the agglomeration project would provide drainage for more than 40,000 residents in and around Varaždin, hence improving their quality of life.
The director-general of the Hrvatske Vode water management company Zoran Đuroković said that a tender would be released soon for a wastewater processing plant, which would complete the entire project. "The agglomeration project will cost local authorities very little, only 40 million kuna, which is 5.5% of the entire investment. The Environmental Protection Ministry and Hrvatske Vode will secure 11.5% of the funding each," Đuroković added.
Varaždin Mayor Ivan Čehok described this as the biggest infrastructure project in the town's history. Deputy County Prefect Robert Vugrin added that in addition to this project, another six were being prepared in the county, valued at more than 700 million kuna, and that in all more than 1.5 billion kuna would be invested in the drainage grid.
The works on the Varaždin Agglomeration project are expected to be completed in 2021.
