The project "Competence Center in Koprivnica-Križevci County" which will reconstruct, upgrade and equip the buildings of the Trade School Koprivnica and partner institutions of the Vocational School Đurđevac will be co-financed by grants from the State Budget in the amount of thirty million HRK. The decision on funding was made by the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds, which evaluated the project proposal, checked the quality and eligibility of expenditures, and awarded the project with the highest marks. The project was estimated fully acceptable and awarded the maximum amount of grants that can be provided by contract.
The total amount of eligible costs is 30,021,538 HRK, which means that the amount of only 21,538 kuna will be co-financed by the beneficiary, ie Trade School Koprivnica, which is also a project applicant together with project partners Koprivnica-Križevci County and Vocational School Đurđevac, and with professional assistance of PORA Regional Development Agency of Koprivnica-Križevci County.
Deputy Prefect Ratimir Ljubić said that the main goal of establishing a regional Center of Competence in vocational education is to support the process of vocational education reform and training for the labor market adding that the funds will be used to upgrade Trade School Koprivnica and Đurđevac Vocational School and purchase some equipment.
"It should be emphasized that we are extremely pleased that this important project is being financed with a grant, almost in the amount of 100 percent. Congratulations to the entire Project Team and all those who participated in the preparation of the project for the Center which is of great importance for the development of vocational education, especially in the field of electrical engineering and computer science in which we want to make progress ", said Deputy Ljubić.
The head of the administrative department for finance, budget and public procurement, as well as the project manager Darko Masnec, added that the whole story about the county Competence Center consists of two separate projects. The first technical part is related to the implementation and the establishment of the Center, whereas the second part refers to the activities of teacher education programs and curricula from the regular school process worth 30.6 million HRK. All this makes the total value of the Center of almost 61 million HRK.
"We are in the phase of preparing the project documentation for the upgrade of the Trade School Koprivnica and the Đurđevac Vocational School. We have recently contracted and signed contracts in the County Administration for the preparation of project documentation in the amount of 600 thousand HRK, and in the next phase a tender for procurement will be announced and works will be carried out. Regarding the first part of the project, which will be financed with a 30 million HRK grant after the Decision of the relevant ministry, in Koprivnica, 1760 square meters of new space will be added to the Trade School for 16.5 million HRK. In the Đurđevac Vocational School 530 square meters will be added and the existing building of 326 square will be reconstructed, which will cost about 6.1 million HRK. Other funds, around 5.5 million HRK, will be invested for the purchase of specialized equipment and activities related to the management and visibility of the project, " explained Masnec.
According to the projections, the mentioned implementation of the public procurement procedure for infrastructure works should be carried out next year at the beginning of the summer, after which concrete works will begin. Beside the project’s importance in the field of reconstruction and equipment procurement, the project of the County Competence Center has a very important added value in terms of cooperation with the business sector and higher education institutions in the county in accordance with labor market needs.
