The government of Slovenia has announced plans to potentially develop the Koper - Diva?a rail link through a public private partnership (PPP) project.

Goverment also plans to submit an application for funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The proposed project could obtain about €380 million (US$430 million) form the CEF.

According to the Infrastructure Minister Peter Gašperši?, Slovenia would apply for the funding and the project would be partly financed with a PPP. The type of PPP has not been selected yet.

The total project investment is estimated at €1.4 billion (US$1.58 billion).

At the moment the Diva?a-Koper rail link is a 50-kilometre single track line that connects Ljubljana and Diva?a with the coastal town of Koper.

The project is a key infrastructure for the Port of Koper, which will hit its limit within years if the track, currently the biggest bottleneck on the rail network, is not upgraded. Transport of merchandise through the port of Koper increased by 42.5% between 2004 and 2013.

We have recently reported about the concession of the Croatian 1,024 km motorway network. In late December the government received non-binding bids. The government aims to obtain a one-off payment of at least €2.5 billion (US$3.11 billion) to €3 billion (US$3.73 billion) for a concession period between 30 years and 50 years.