Whether it be big or small, investment in Croatia with the help of European Union funds continues to keep the country's offer competitive.

As Morski writes on the 17th of November, 2018, in one port area in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the biggest investment cycle so far has begun. ​​Of the massive 150 million kuna investment, as much as 60 million kuna are the projects of the County Port Authority of Crikvenica, and works in Jadranovo, Crikvenica and Selce will begin next week, according to HRT Radio Rijeka.

The project's contractors are Crikvenica Construction and Rijeka BSK Commerce. The completion of the port extension has been announced in Crikvenica for eighteen months time, that in Selce will be done in five years, and in Jadranovo, the expected time limit is one year, with the overall desire for it to be completed before next summer.

Speaking generally, investment in Croatia is a hugely important step in continually improving the country's already rich offer, and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County has not launched such a large investment cycle in its coastal area ever, County Prefect Zlatko Komadin said. This year, 40 million kuna's worth of works began, while the rest of the investment cycle is expected to reach 150 million kuna in the next two years. Along the coast in the Crikvenica area, there also will be works on the ports of Unije, Susak, and Cres. The views of places and cities are changing, which is already evident in Njivice (Krk) and in Novi Vinodolski, and such changes will soon also be seen in Crikvenica, noted the prefect. Komadina also pointed out that they have withdrawn most possible European Union incentives for the upcoming works.

Nada Milošević stressed that as much as 101 million kuna is coming from EU funds. "The Ministry's contingency has been extended until February the 29th next year, so we're planning to run two more projects in addition to the Crikvenica project, involving Rab and Purpurela ports, part of the fishing port and the extension of the Baška port," said Milošević.

The director of ŽLU Crikvenica, Mario Kružić, announced that in Crikvenica, the existing pier will be extended by another sixty metres, and a new western breakwater of 130 metres in length will be built to protect the port from waves. Two existing gates will be built in Selce on Polača and Stari mul, which will be 100 metres longer. In Jadranovo, the plans are the construction of a new promenade of about 400 metres in length, and in Perčin port, the communal berths will be renovated, and in the concessioned area, nautical berths will be constructed. The plan also boasts an 80-metre deep breakwater pontoon, as well as the construction of two piers at lengths of sixty metres.

Work should begin next week, and Crikvenica's administration has asked tourists and citizens alike for their patience, as heavy machinery will be moving through the city streets.

Want to keep up with more news on investment in Croatia, EU funds and other big projects? Make sure to follow our business page for much more.

Click here for the original article by Neva Funcic for HRT Radio Rijeka

November 11, 2018 - Imagine an American married a local, wanted to live in your country and bring up to 2 billion dollars in investment. Would you welcome him? Not in Croatia... 

I get to meet a lot of people, both local and international, from all walks of life and all over Croatia with this job running Total Croatia News. It is a lot of fun and without doubt one of the most rewarding things I have done professionally over the last 30 years or so. 

And with those connections comes a better understanding of Croatia and a cross-section of views, experiences and insights. In the last month, for example, several events and conferences I have attended in the medical tourism industry have enabled me to meet and interview the editor of the leading health tourism media in the world (Keith Pollard from IMTJ), two leading medical travel gurus (Ilan Geva and Dr Prem Jagyasi) and the CEO of business running the best medical tourism in the world, Sherene Azli, of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council. All here in Croatia. And the picture they paint, and the path they have outlined, shows the huge potential Croatia has to develop a lucrative niche in medical tourism. 

But this is Croatia... 

As we move TCN away from its initial prime focus of tourism, more contact with the business community is proving equally fascinating. That Croatia desperately needs investment is hardly a secret; that Croatia does not have a reputation of being kind to foreign investors even less so; and for foreign businessmen who are masochistic enough to actually want to live here, getting residence permits can be very frustrating indeed. 

Especially, for some reason - or maybe it is just my personal experience - Americans. 

I met an American recently who I will call Steve. He is happily married to a local, is in love with Croatia and its lifestyle, is extremely wealthy and is desperate to invest several million into construction projects. He has a successful track record of working on some major construction projects back in the United States, and he has sufficient confidence and interest from investors that he is confident he could bring up to 2 billion dollars into Croatia with the right projects. 

And yet, some 10 years after he first came to Croatia to do two big developments on the coast back in 2008 (neither of which have moved forward in the intervening decade), Steve not only has not managed to build anything in Croatia, but he also now is experiencing problems with his residency and ability to stay in the country of his wife and one he has come to love and wants to badly to invest in. 

Steve sent me an email recently after our meeting, published with permission:

In search of a residence permit and investment project in Croatia

"So, I have been doing a great deal of thinking the past 2 weeks since we met. As you know, with this drastic law change regarding residence permits, the needless frustration of the past 3 months took a tremendous health toll upon my wife and myself. Zagreb MUP is terribly worse than Split MUP and they, along with HZZO purposefully and publicly target Americans more than any other foreigner. This process has kinda sucked the life out of us, along with any enthusiasm for trying to even work here within my construction consulting business and 2 other non-connected businesses I was/am considering here in Zagreb.

Besides the personal stay permit fiasco, for over 8 years now, I have been trying to actively build a thriving business for myself here. Colleagues and clients of mine have the resources to invest in projects up to 2 Bln USD. But as you know and we discussed.....the government here is just too negative, close-minded, short-sighted and non-proactive. The large projects here simply will never commence despite fancy press conferences (Pasman) and the 2 in Dubrovnik will never be built.... as you know the Dubrovnik Golf project is suing the government for 500 mln euros, and also I remember that comment in one of your blogs attributed to the process in Croatia by a Russian billionaire. (Editor note - a Russian billionaire with lots of investment experience in the region said that there was corruption all over the region, but the only difference was that in Croatia, you pay the politicians and they do nothing, and then four years later, you have to start again).

I recently remembered a couple things here said to me when I originally moved here 10 years ago. "Preko veze" (through connections) of course. Well, that is and isn't true. When I first arrived I immediately contacted the large commercial global brokerage firms as I have had lengthy successful relationships with their namesake sister firms back in the USA. Remarkably they don't seem to value existing relationships with clients from their sister firms abroad. Same with the architects here. 

The other is someone told me in the beginning "never send a written racun (invoice)". Well. I only conduct business in a correct, professional manner and that is what I did. Well, as you must know, Croatia maybe be the only country in the world that collects taxes (VAT) on contracts/racuns that were never paid. So, I paid approx 500,000 kns (25%) in VAT my first year here. And although have FINA court judgments, cannot collect because the " developers" have many blocked accounts and the government won't help either.....and they have more cash than God. Which brings up the other statement told to me by many Croatians "never, ever....do business with a Croatian!". 

Well, that made no sense to me but here we are over 8 years later. I am not bitter nor have any regrets....because I have done things the right way.....morally, ethically and with the proper motives.

That said, I am a realist and have learned many lessons here....but am also an eternal optimist. I am always open to meeting new people, new faces and networking. One never knows the outcome or future potential, correct? But gone are the days of my jumping thru hoops prematurely. Again, knowing the proper way to conduct business I always responded with detailed packages for RFQ's. Unfortunately this has led to a couple bad situations here as well despite the usage of non-disclosure and non-compete agreements....specifically with one "Croatian gentleman" (I say that loosely.. lol) who alleges to provide similar services as I, was appreciating included in my project teams....then went behind my back after I got the "foot in the door" ....to unethically steal clients and business from me. Oh well, lessons learned."

I do like living here (as long as the government doesn't change the laws and regs again for the worse...lol) but maybe it is time to live here in semi-retirement....

****

Do you have an investment in Croatia story (positive or negative) which would be interesting to feature on TCN, Or a residence permit tale of woe or joy? Contact us on news@total-croatia-news with full details, Subject title - Facepalm.