The European Commission has urged Slovenia and Italy to settle on the course and funding of the cross-border railway link between Divaca, Slovenia, and Trieste, Italy, which forms a part of one of the EU's 30 priority transport projects.
The Commission is presenting its first report on the implementation of the priority projects at Tuesday's informal meeting of EU transport ministers at Slovenia's Brdo pri Kranju.
Project No. 6, which includes the Divaca-Trieste railway link, is one of two for which the projected date of completion is later than the target completion date. The link will connect Lyon, France with the Ukrainian border, running through Trieste, across Slovenia, and on through Budapest.
The line is projected to be completed by 2025, while the deadline for projects on the priority list is 2020. The delay is due to the project's complexity, given the involvement of several member states, the Commission notes in its report.
The Commission's report calls for cross-border cooperation between Slovenia and Italy, noting that political commitment on the part of all members is essential for the project to be completed on time.
Despite Slovenia's and Italy's reiterated expressions of political commitment, progress on the section could have been greater, the Commission says in its report.
The report also points to encouraging progress in 2007, the product of which was the first intergovernmental conference between Slovenia and Italy, in December. Still, the final course of the section has not been determined, the Commission notes.
Considering that the line from Divaca and across Slovenia and Hungary continues all the way to the Ukrainian border, the clarification of the final course and financial commitments would be of substantial help, the Commission says.
The section is in its early stage and the decision on the course of the line is expected to be taken by June this year, according to the report.
The delays are by and large due to financial difficulties, as only 27% of the funds come from the EU budget, with the member states contributing the rest.
Slovenian Transport Minister Radovan Zerjav told the press at the transport ministers' meeting that he was displeased with the state of rail projects in Slovenia, which is why he has become involved in the operational management of the projects.
"We have made significant steps forward lately," Zerjav said, pointing to the impending issuance of a building permit for the upgrade of the existing Koper-Divaca line and the acquisition of land for the building of the second line on the route.
Before leaving Brussels for Slovenia, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told a group of reporters he would scold the ministers, as the delays were unacceptable.
The total cost of Project No. 6 will be an estimated EUR 60.7bn. Prior to 2007, EUR 7.8bn was invested. Only 12.9% of the works had been completed by the end of 2006.
In the 2007-2013 period, about EUR 10.4bn has been invested, while 30% of the project is expected to be finished by 2013. Only 190 kilometres out of the envisaged 1,688-km railway line has been completed so far.
The European Commission released the data on the distribution of more than EUR 5bn that was budgeted for the priority transport projects in 2007-2013 in November 2007. The EU's budget for Project No. 6 is EUR 754.50m, of which EUR 50.70m is earmarked for the Trieste-Divaca section.
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