May the 2nd, 2022 - Even though the company responsible for constructing the long awaited Peljesac bridge has been working day and night to get the massive project completed by the prescribed deadline, many of us thought the delays would just keep on rolling in for this gigantic Croatian and European Union project which will unite Croatian territory (the extreme south of Dalmatia and the rest of the country) to be completed.

It now seems that we can say with confidence that you'll finally be able to drive across the strategic project at the end of July this year.

Peljesac bridge, which will cut out the need for people driving to and from the extreme south of Dalmatia to cross into neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and then back out again (more precisely through the town of Neum, that country's only piece of coastline), is often referred to as the most significant project since the declaration of Croatian independence.

As Morski writes, Peljesac Bridge is finally scheduled to open this July, along with most of the access roads which have been taking some time to get completed. An HRT team visited the site to look at what stage the works on the bridge were at and whether they were affected by the recent earthquakes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were most felt in the wider Dubrovnik area.

''According to the current plans and dynamics of the works, people will likely be able to drive across Peljesac bridge during the second half of July when the works on the access roads are completed,'' said Jeroslav Segedin, the project manager for the Peljesac Bridge - Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste).

He added that the technical inspection of the bridge has been performed, and that some minor shortcomings were noticed, which have been eliminated over more recent days. As for the bridge itself as a construction, everything is completely finished now, he pointed out. He also referred to the most technically demanding part - the Ston bypass.

''The construction of the bridge near Ston has been set, welded, and now a concrete slab is set to be built. It is expected to take four months, so in October or November these works should also be completed,'' he said. Segedin said the recent earthquake in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't affect Peljesac bridge or any of the ongoing works and finalisations.

''When calculating the load-bearing capacity and stability of the bridge structure, one of the parameters is the seismic load, which in this case was much higher than what the earthquake was. We were more worried about how the earthquake affected other facilities along the route - viaducts, the Ston bridge, tunnels, which are still in the construction phase and haven't yet been completed. Fortunately, no damage or indicators were noticed that would suggest that something unexpected may have happened with any of the above,'' concluded Segedin.

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ZAGREB, 24 March - Members of the Croatian Parliament on Thursday welcomed the proposal for a national hydrogen strategy until 2050, stressing the importance of economic development based on hydrogen, own energy production and increased electricity production from renewable sources.

Some opposition lawmakers warned of the commercial unprofitability of green hydrogen.

In recent years, Croatia has been making a great effort in decarbonising its energy sector and economy, its goal being to ensure that by 2030 at least 36.6 per cent of electricity consumption comes from renewable sources, said Ivo Milatić, state secretary at the Ministry of Economy.

A hydrogen-based economy is an important part of plans by EU member states towards a green energy transition, and the proposed strategy follows up on the EU hydrogen initiative, which Croatia signed in 2018, he said.

The proposal puts emphasis on renewable hydrogen, obtained by low-carbon emitting technologies. Some sectors of the Croatian economy have already expressed an interest in developing hydrogen technologies, which is why a government strategic document is needed to give direction to the development of hydrogen technologies, Milatić said.

Ljubica Maksimčuk of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was interested in whether Croatia was ready for the first phase of the strategy, from 2020 to 2024, which aims to ensure the production of one million tonnes of renewable hydrogen.

"Croatia is ready for this. Under the National Recovery Plan, we have undertaken to install 10 refuelling stations over the next three years and finance a certain number of electrolysers," Milatić said, adding that there was interest from hydrogen associations and private and public companies.

In response to a question put by Andreja Marić of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Milatić said that 60 public transport buses in Zagreb would switch to hydrogen use and that a hydrogen refuelling station would be installed for that purpose.

Vesna Vučemilović (Sovereignists) wanted to know why the proposed strategy gave priority to transport over industry and to green hydrogen, which she said would have to be subsidised because it was commercially unprofitable.

Milatić said that Croatia was rich in renewable energy sources and that it would not be wise to go any other way than green hydrogen. He, however, noted that they were aware that ample government subsidies would be necessary as long as this technology did not become cheaper.

Responding to a question from independent MP Hrvoje Zekanović about the price of a kilogram of hydrogen, Milatić said that its price currently ranged between 12 and 15 euro and that a car with six kilos of hydrogen in the tank can drive between 500 and 600 kilometres.

Marin Miletić (Bridge) said that the EU planned to invest about €500 billion in renewable energy sources by 2050 and Croatia more than HRK 70 billion (€9.3bn), which is equivalent to the cost of 17 Pelješac bridges. He asked Milatić where Croatia would get that money from.

Milatić said that conventional renewable energy sources, such as wind and sun, would require minimum or no state subsidies in the near future. "Our focus will be on small solar cells on houses and on new technologies, and among new technologies, hydrogen will dominate financially and in any other respect."

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ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Documents resulting from the Strategic Transformation in Agriculture and Rural Space (STARS) project will help determine how around five billion euros that have been made available for Croatia's agricultural sector will be spent, Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said on Thursday.

The Agriculture Ministry and the World Bank cooperated on the STARS project, and the agreement on project cooperation was signed in October 2018.

Analyses, studies and guidelines made during the project have thus been significantly used also in making a draft agricultural strategy for the period until 2030, which has been put to public consultation, and in making a national aquaculture development plan for the period 2021-2027. Both documents are aimed at enhancing the sectors' competitiveness and adapting them to current conditions.

Numerous domestic and foreign experts, sector stakeholders, employees of the Agriculture Ministry and other Croatian institutions and universities cooperated on the project, with Vučković noting that the start of work on the project had coincided with debates about the future of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, which will affect financing priorities and development of agriculture in all member states.

The project served to reexamine the situation and needs of the Croatian farm sector, as well as the measures that are being implemented, and its documents will be used in deciding how the roughly five billion euros intended for Croatian agriculture will be used, Vučković said.

Great chances for development of Croatian farm sector

Project coordinator Svetlana Edmeades of the World Bank said that the World Bank strongly believed that Croatia had great chances for the development of its farm sector.

Farm producers have central place in the project, which identifies as national strategic goals an increase in productivity and in the resilience of farm production to climate change, stronger competitiveness of the agricultural and food sector, revival of rural economy and improving living conditions in rural areas.

Edmeades underlined the importance of knowledge and innovations, noting that the development of Croatia's agriculture should be green, resilient and inclusive, which includes, among other things, production of organic food, sector resilience to shocks, as well as greater involvement of smaller producers in existing value chains.

She said the project achievements were a number of reports that should serve as guidelines for the ministry and farm producers towards a green, resilient and inclusive agriculture.

The World Bank official said that the analyses were expected to significantly contribute to the government's programme with regard to specific targets in the farm sector, in the making of a national agricultural and rural development strategy, participation of agriculture in the national recovery and resilience plan, and national strategic planning within CAP.

Value of agricultural production to be raised to HRK 30bn by 2030 

State secretaries Tugomir Majdak, Zdravko Tušek and Šime Mršić presented the draft agricultural strategy for the period until 2030 and the national plan for the development of aquaculture in the period 2021-2027.

The officials said that the projected effects of the strategy until 2030 were an increase in labour productivity of 60% and the consequent increase in the value of farm production to HRK 30 billion, for which funds in the amount of €7.5 billion were envisaged.

This should be achieved, among other things, by a 35% increase in the number of locally bred fattening pigs, a 20% increase in cattle breeding, expanding areas under permanent crops by 5,000 hectares and areas where crops are grown under glass by 500 hectares, a 20% increase in the share of the food industry in GDP and a 30% increase in the number of producers in short supply chains.

The national plan for the development of aquaculture in the period 2021-2027, which is being made, will put emphasis on stronger competitiveness and the creation of 15% more jobs in the rural and coastal economies in the aquaculture value chain, including an increase in total production volume of 30%, a 35% increase in added value in the processing of aquaculture products, and an increase in the average annual consumption of aquaculture products per capita by as much as 50%, the Agriculture Ministry said.

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It might come as a surprise to many, especially with just how long things take to get done in Croatia, that there are multiple highly significant projects, several of which are considered to be strategic, going on at the moment.

Despite the fact that Pelješac bridge and its Chinese builders are the most talked about part of Croatia's current strategic projects, the country has more than just one mega-project going on, especially in the extreme south of Dalmatia.

As Morski writes on the 15th of June, 2019, the commission for evaluating and identifying proposals of strategic projects has come to a decision that include four such projects from Croatia's southernmost county, Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

On the list of strategic projects of the Republic of Croatia lie the road connection of the rest of Croatia with southern Dalmatia, more specifically the construction of the aforementioned and much anticipated Pelješac bridge along with its accompanying access roads, a project funded primarily by European Union funds.

The project is of enormous significance not only to Croatia, but to Europe, as this will connect the EU's territory, bypassing the need to travel through Neum (Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is not in the EU) when going to or leaving the Dubrovnik area. Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste) is the investor in the bridge's access roads, which are progressing at at a much slower rate than the construction of the bridge currently is.

Another, much less talked about project is the Lučino razdolje waste management centre, whose investor is the waste management agency of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, the construction of an infrastructure for a tanker connection for petroleum products and liquefied gas in the Port of Ploče, which is an investment undertaken by the Port Authority of Ploče, and the replacement of submarine 110 KV cables, a project in which the investor is a Croatian transmission system operator.

The fact that these projects are included in the List of Strategic Projects of the Republic of Croatia confirms their enormous importance to the state.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and politics pages for much more on Croatia's major projects, strategic and otherwise.