March 19, 2023 - The state, now it is pretty clear, will not be able to use the EU grants from the Solidarity Fund in time to restore its two most important buildings - the Banski Dvori (government) and the Croatian Parliament building on St. Mark's Square in Zagreb.

As Index / Jutarnji write, after several failed tenders, three years after the Zagreb earthquake, the money from the EU Solidarity Fund for the structural renovation of the two most important buildings of the Croatian legislative and executive authorities will remain unspent, and only the creation of a complete renovation design will be financed.

The term expires at the end of June

HRK 87.6 million, or EUR 11.6 million, was supposed to finance the structural renovation and design documentation for the parliament building, while HRK 61.5 million o,r EUR 8.2 million, would have gone towards documentation, and the first phase of the government building renovation.

The deadline for spending that money from the Solidarity Fund expires at the end of June this year. Croatia was the only country in the European Union that received a one-year extension of that deadline. However, despite this precedent, the state could not even restore its own buildings.

In order to spend at least a small part of the money from the Fund, the government and parliament decided to call for tenders for the preparation of design documentation only. Thus, the IGH Institute won the parliamentary competition for the preparation of documentation, which undertook to deliver the project by the end of June.

The state will spend five percent of the grant

The council estimated that the work was worth HRK 9 million without VAT, or EUR 1.2 million, but IGH won the tender with a price of less than half of that estimate, i.e., slightly less than HRK 4 million or EUR 533,800. The government estimated the creation of design documentation at HRK 6.3 million, or EUR 836,100. A consortium of companies Interkonzalting and Planaxis won the tender with a price of HRK 3.5 million without VAT, or EUR 464,500.

This means that, of the projected 19.8 million euros intended for structural renovation and documentation of the parliament and government buildings, the state will spend just under a million euros for the project, i.e. only five percent of the total allocated grant from the Solidarity Fund.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.