December 7, 2020 – Sisak-Moslavina County plans many new projects for 2021. Among them, the construction of the Croatian Wine House (Hrvatska kuća vina) in Popovača stands out, as a promotion center of Moslavina wines, especially the indigenous variety škrlet.

As Lokalni.hr reports, the administrative department for the economy, agriculture, and rural development of the Sisak-Moslavina County will have a budget of more than50 million at its disposal next year, and a much higher amount is expected for projects from EU funds.

New crafts and businesses

For the economic development in 2021, 8.8 million kuna will be allocated: 4 million kuna for the development of entrepreneurial infrastructure, 3.85 million kuna for subsidies to craftsmen, small and medium-sized enterprises, and 750,000 kuna for capital aid for new investments in production.

The development of tourism will be supported next year with 4.572 million kuna. 1.4 million kuna will be invested in transport and communal infrastructure. Co-financing of passenger transport and co-financing of public road transport in municipalities continues. For regional development and projects co-financed from EU funds, 32.2 million kuna is allocated.

Most of it goes to the work of the Regional Coordinator of the SMC, which prepares and implements projects, and to the Natura SMC project – an educational and presentation center that will include all the richness of the county's natural heritage.

Among other planned projects, which should be co-financed from European funds, is the project "LIFE in Zone Ozone". With this project, a new model of disinfection should be developed, and its value is 7 million kuna.

Croatian Wine House - the future recognizability of the county

Also, a 34-million kuna project "Croatian Wine House" is planned, which would contain two segments. The first would be a tourist segment for which a tasting room, a restaurant, and a viewpoint would be built. The second segment would be scientific and educational and would consist of a laboratory, a wine cellar, and a test field intended primarily for the development of the indigenous wine variety of the Sisak-Moslavina County – škrlet.

The project will be implemented in the area of the City of Popovača, where it was presented in February. The prefect of Sisak-Moslavina County, Ivo Žinić, said on that occasion that the Croatian Wine House is the future recognizability of the county, emphasizing that it is just a continuation of all efforts for better promotion of Moslavina wines, especially the indigenous škrlet variety.

"This is an important project primarily because a lot of people here are involved in winemaking. Wine, vineyard, and wine cellars are the tradition of this area and status symbols of the City of Popovača. Thus, we will complete one story in which it will be possible to present everything that is produced, not only in the area of Popovača but also in the entire County," said then the mayor of Popovača Josip Mišković, Radio Banovina reports.

A special feature of this project is a viewpoint with flower petals that give a new character to this vineyard area.

"Everyone who comes to this area will have the need and desire to visit the wine house, see which wines are produced in this area, but also taste them and all other wines to help our winemakers. They are investing more and more every year, especially in škrlet, which has an increasing value on wine lists. I think that this project will be the capital crown of the entire investment in the development of wine and winemaking," said Mišević.

Other projects – battery development center, photovoltaic power plant, business incubators...

Other planned projects are the renovation of Villa Zelengaj in Topusko (5.5 million kuna), project "Research-development-production center for batteries and design and production of furniture" in the Entrepreneurial Zone Glina (150 million kuna), Photovoltaic power plant Martinska Ves (86 million kuna) and establishment of a network of business incubators in Popovača, Novska, Glina, Kutina, Donja Kukuruzari, Velika Ludina, and Lipovljani, with an estimated value of 192 million kuna.

Sisak-Moslavina County continues with the implementation of the project "County Entrepreneurial Loans", which enables the launch of new crafts and companies, and the growth and expansion of existing ones. This project has been implemented in SMC for years in cooperation with cities, municipalities, and commercial banks, which achieves an interest rate of 0.25 or even 0 percent for entrepreneurs.

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