Today, Mayor Željko Burić and his colleagues held a working meeting with representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development headed by Victoria Zinchuk, director of the EBRD office in Croatia.
The topic of the meeting was the next steps as part of the Batižele Development Project, and after the City Council adopted the Development Strategy - Urban regeneration of the abandoned industrial zone in Šibenik and the Action Plan and implementation priority - Urban regeneration of the abandoned industrial zone in Šibenik at the end of the year. Let us remind you that the mentioned documents were created by the company Ove Arup & Partners International Ltd., chosen on the basis of a public tender conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. At today's meeting, further cooperation with the EBRD was agreed, and it was decided how a team of experts will be formed, which will deal exclusively with bringing investors to the Batižela area.
"We have been working intensively on the Batižele Development Project every day since we assumed responsibility for the management of Šibenik in 2013. In cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Croatia, we successfully resolved long-standing property-legal relations and financial problems that had accumulated at the location of the former TEF factory, adopted the Development Strategy and Action Plan of the Batižele project, recapitalized the company of the same name, held numerous meetings and video conferences, initiated changes GUP and made a series of decisions aimed at activating this extremely valuable space. Since there is a mega investment project in the middle, we are aware that there is still a lot of work ahead of us. In cooperation with the EBRD, we will continue to work on the best solutions in order to attract quality investors and turn the once "black spot" of the city into an elite city district," said Mayor Željko Burić after the meeting.
The director of the EBRD office in Croatia, Victoria Zinchuk, expressed her satisfaction with the cooperation with the City of Šibenik, as well as with today's working meeting.
"Urban regeneration of an area like Batižel is not an easy task. It requires time, effort, courage and a lot of knowledge. We are happy to be here today because the project we started continues to develop and has its own development path. For us, Šibenik will definitely be the first city where the urban regeneration project will begin in the true sense of the word, and I hope that the local population will benefit from this space. This will be one of the most beautiful places that the local population will enjoy and will certainly put Šibenik on the map of Croatia as one of the most innovative cities," said Zinchuk.
To a journalist's question about the European Bank's interest in reconstruction and development in Šibenik, Zinchuk answered that reconstruction and development is closest to what is happening here as part of urban regeneration.
"Another reason why we are here is the mission of the EBRD, which is that we invest in changes in lives. Therefore, it is important for us to have projects that are desirable for investment and at this moment if you have a "black spot" then there are no projects or opportunities for private or public sector investments. We can talk about potential, but what we are doing here is turning potential into concrete action. We want to create such projects for the future of Croatia and for future investors. Second, when you ask what our interest is, the Bank has two key instruments: one is lending, where we give loans to the public and private sectors, and the other instrument is consulting. Consulting is perhaps less well-known in Croatia, with the exception of consulting in small and medium-sized enterprises, which we have been providing for more than 20 years, but this type of consulting, which we provide and in which we maintain a political dialogue with decision-makers, important stakeholders from the public and private sectors, is very important. a factor in what the EBRD does. That's why we're here and why we support Šibenik. At the same time, I want to confirm that we will continue to provide support to Šibenik and I hope that you will see further progress on this project, as well as on other interesting ideas that can be implemented in Šibenik," she concluded.
Published: 27.04.2021
