A special task force tackling the issue of Slovenian road connections near the border with Croatia concluded at Thursday's meeting that the construction of alternative routes that would save Slovenians the need to pass through Croatia to reach their destination in Slovenia is a priority.
The members of the task force for an alternative road network near the border said that new roads should be built as soon as possible to overcome the problems that arose after Slovenian and Croatian independence in 1991.
Many Slovenians living near the border are having to pass through Croatia to get from one place to another in Slovenia because of the detours involved in using Slovenian roads.
The participating of the meeting, including several mayors in municipalities bordering on Croatia, pointed to the need to register road construction projects in programmes of the Government Office for Local Government and Regional Policy that would allow them to be funded through EU funds.
Members of the task force are planning to visit each of the 11 municipalities involved in a bid to come to a mutual solution on dealing with the problem of poor road connections in bordering regions.
State Secretary at the Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry Marko Starman pointed out that people living in areas near the Croatian border will find it more difficult to move around once Slovenia enters the Schengen zone.
Therefore the road network on the Slovenian side must be improved in order to allow them easy travel in bordering areas. It is important that their problems are solved as soon as possible, he said after the meeting in Ljubljana.
The project includes 21 roads in 11 municipalities. In some cases it will be possible to solve the problem already this year by using forest roads, Starman explained. He added that all 21 roads were to be included in the financial plan for the next three years.
The aim is to find the best solutions for building these road connections as soon as possible and obtaining EU funds for the purpose, Starman said.
The Environment Ministry established the task force in autumn, tasking it with finding solutions for the road network at the border with Croatia, which was severed in several places when the border was drawn after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.
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