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Construction

In December 2001 Croatian building and construction, an important national industry, employed 62,773 employees in 11,762 companies. The total value of construction contracts carried out abroad amounted to USD 142.7 m, 99% of which was earned in Europe. In 2000, around 12,000 apartments with a total area of approximately one million square metres were built, which corresponds to the average construction level in the previous three years.

Croatia has adopted a legal framework designed for making housing loans more accessible due to budgetary incentives and bank savings. Several housing savings banks have been established as an important source of domestic long-term savings for which an annual budgetary premium is allocated. The new model of socially stimulated construction of apartments is a project that should considerably increase the construction of apartments and contribute to solving the needs of the population with participation of public funds (state, towns and municipalities).

The know-how and international experience of Croatian civil engineers in the construction of industrial and power generating facilities, roads, tunnels and bridges guarantees the ability of domestic civil engineers to tackle complex projects on both domestic and foreign markets. Croatia’s transportation development strategy includes the construction of 700 kilometres of new roads by 2011, which would, together with the existing roads, make 1,220 kilometres of highways and superhighways.

The Croatian investment market has already been penetrated by large foreign companies. Since April 2001, two companies have been in charge of the management, building and maintenance of roads in Croatia, namely HAC-Croatian Highways d.o.o. and HC-Croatian Roads d.o.o. Professional works related to concessions and supervised by the Ministry of Public Works, Reconstruction and Building are conducted by the Croatian Highways company.