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Construction contract for WMC Babina gora signed

14.11.2022.

The deputy director of the Fund, Mirko Budiša, attends the signing of contract for the design and construction works on the Waste Management Centre Babina gora took place in Karlovac.
“Croatia has specific strategic goals regarding waste management that are in line with the EU directives. Our system is based on waste prevention and separate waste collection, as well as using the valuable properties of waste. However, the waste that cannot be used must be disposed of in line with the environmental standards, which is where waste management centres come into play,” said deputy director Mirko Budiša. He also pointed out that the implementation of these types of projects was very complex, so assistance from the state level was necessary. “In the overall structure of eligible costs for the construction of the Babina gora centre, which amount to 435 million kunas the majority of which was secured from the European Cohesion Fund, the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund is planning to participate with HRK 76 million,” said deputy director Budiša.
 
State Secretary Mario Šiljeg believes this project to be important in achieving Croatian national interests. “It is important for two reasons – until 2025 the rate of recycling has to increase from the current 31 % to 55 %, and until 2035 the rate of landfilled waste has to be reduced from the current 58 % to only 10 percent. These are ambitious goals that cannot be achieved without waste management centres as an integrated part of the waste management hierarchy,” concluded Šiljeg
 
The WMC Babina gora is dimensioned to treat 30 thousand tonnes of mixed municipal waste that will be brought in from Karlovac County and parts of Lika-Senj County and Sisak-Moslavina County. Apart from the construction and fitting out of the centre itself, the project includes the construction of four transfer stations that will be located in Karlovac, Slunj, Ogulin and Podum near Otočac.
 
The director of the WMC Marija Tufeković pointed out that this project had been in the pipeline for 16 years, and that it took a lot of determination and patience to reach the point of signing the contract with the contractor. “The consortium of companies Hering, Elcom and Enova from Bosnia and Herzegovina has a 35-month deadline to design and build the centre, followed by six months of trial operation,” said Tufeković.
 
The Karlovac County mayor, Martina Furdek Hajdin, also pointed out that this project had no alternative: “The construction of the centre will not in any way pose a threat to the environment and quality of life of the citizens; on the contrary – it will improve our lives and contribute to proper waste disposal. This is just one link in the chain of the overall system, and it is our responsibility to sort the waste properly for the system to function in a quality manner.” 

Izvor: Karlovačka županija