Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said on Tuesday an additional 1.7 million kuna would be invested in the new cable car connecting the foot of Mt Medvednica overlooking Zagreb and its Sljeme peak to reduce the level of noise even though a public procurement procedure for that purpose had been cancelled.

The job of additional noise protection would be done by the Austrian company Doppelmayr instead of Lindner d.o.o. from Zagreb, which was the only company to apply to the tender.

Tomasevic said the tender was annulled as the sole bidder did not meet technical and professional conditions.

The mayor said that he considered it useful to invest an additional 1.7 million kuna, which is 1% of the value of the cable car equipment, to meet local residents’ demands and avoid affecting the quality of life in the area around the cable car.

Tomasevic also dismissed speculation that the city administration was late with payments to Doppelmayr.

After a technical inspection of the cable car was carried out last Friday, Tomasevic said that he expected the State Inspectorate to issue a positive opinion on the cable car, after which the operating licence is to be issued by the Transport Ministry.