The start of construction on a new passenger terminal at Zagreb Airport (ZLZ) is planned for September this year and the works should be completed by April 2016, was said on Wednesday at a presentation by the concessionaire of the works - the French ZAIC company, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, and the Viadukt company as the contractor.
The new terminal will consist of 65,000 square metres and will be able to handle five million passengers a year. The project envisages a new airport ramp and a car park.
The financial construction is almost complete, negotiations are drawing to a close, while loan contracts are to be signed and a building permit application filed in April, Christophe Petit explained on behalf of the concessionaire company Bouygues Batiment International.
Once the contracts are signed, ZAIC should take over ZLZ, Petit said, and at the same time make a concession payment of the first EUR 2 million. An equal payment will be made a year later, and for the duration of the concession a percentage of total traffic will be paid, increased by the portion on par to the number of passengers.
Petit explained that loans had so far been secured from the Unicredit Grupa/Zagrebacka Banka and Erste Banka for EUR 65 million each and from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for EUR 120 million.
Aeroport de Paris project director Arnaud Sabatier said that the concessionaire group consisted of TAV and Bouygues Batiment International, with a 65% share, the IFC corporation which is part of the World Bank with a 20% share, Croatia's insurance company Croatia Osiguranje with a 10% share and the Viadukt construction company with a 5% share.
ZAIC has already invested EUR 4 million in the ZLZ project and its founders, Bouygues Batiment International and Aeroports de Paris Management, deposited to the Croatian government EUR 75.8 million in guarantees and a EUR 20 million execution guarantee, said Sabatier.
The French company underscored that the entire ZLZ staff would be retained, including two daughter companies in line with an agreement with the Croatian government guaranteeing current working conditions for a period of at least five years.
Transport Minister Sinisa Hajdas Doncic said that the airport investment was valued at EUR 236 million and the end result would be to increase the number of passengers coming to Zagreb and that the airport would become one of the regional junctures for air traffic.
