27.03.2026.
Today, representatives of 12 Croatian cities were presented with grant agreements for the construction of infrastructure for charging electric buses. The total value of the projects is €17.6 million, while €12.25 million in grants have been provided for their implementation under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).Representatives of the cities of Split, Varaždin, Virovitica, Križevci, Krapina, Rijeka, Ludbreg, Šibenik, Osijek, Sisak, Pula, and Dubrovnik and their local municipal and public transport companies were awarded contracts by the minister of economy, Ante Šušnjar, and the director of the Fund, Luka Balen.
"Today's contracts for the construction of charging stations build on the Government's policy of investing in sustainable mobility. After beneficiaries have already secured funds from the NRRP through the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure for the procurement of electric buses in urban and suburban traffic, today's projects, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Economy and the Fund, are a logical and vital continuation of these investments," said director Balen. He reminded that the Fund’s last year's programmes were also focused on sustainable mobility. "After successfully implementing a public call offering incentives for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles for trades and entrepreneurs worth EUR 21.2 million, we are following in the same footsteps this year with continued co-financing of the purchase of energy-efficient vehicles for our citizens with an additional EUR 15 million," said Balen.
127 EV charging stations will be built under 12 projects that were granted funding. Minister Šušnjar reminded that the construction of 102 charging stations for ZET's electric buses had begun, underlining the company Končar as the successful bidder in an international tender. As he said: "This shows that the Croatian industry has the capacity to follow all the trends and challenges we’ll be facing in the future." He emphasised that these investments reduced dependence on fossil fuels, strengthened Croatia’s energy security and independence, and that the benefits would be felt by citizens soon through quieter traffic, cleaner air and more reliable public transport.
The mayor of Split, Tomislav Šuta, addressed the audience on behalf of the signatories of the contract, while the mayor of Ludbreg, Dubravko Bilić, revealed that the town planned to purchase a total of ten buses for public transport, all of which would be dedicated to characters from the legendary series Gruntovčani.
