New terminal in 2011

Construction of Zagreb’s new terminal possible in 2011

The mayor of the City of Zagreb, Milan Bandić, has announced that the construction of Zagreb’s, now infamous, new terminal could commence in 2011. The mayor, who opened a tourist information stand at the airport, told the press that the current airport building resembles one more fitting for smaller cities rather than a capital of a European country. “It would be my pleasure to meet you all here at Pleso in a year when construction begins”, Bandić told the press. The city of Zagreb owns 35% of the airport and says it will financially support the construction of the new terminal. “We have done nothing for the past 2 years but it is not our fault”, Bandić explains. He says that the city can not fund the entire project on its own and that a lot of effort has to be put in in order for the terminal to be constructed and that includes the support of the Croatian Government as well as the town of Velika Gorica which has shares in the airport. If the 2 do not show interest the project will be stalled again.

The ideal design for the new terminal was chosen last year. However, after the city and Government cancelled the project until further notice, due to the global financial crisis, the designers sold their idea to the City of Donetsk in Ukraine. The new terminal in Zagreb will most probably be financed through a PPP (Public Private Project) where the building would be constructed in collaboration between Government bodies and a private company with the latter gaining control of the airport for an agreed amount of years, after the project is complete. This has proven to be a successful formula in Croatia and neighbouring Slovenia.