A new decree to this effect was confirmed by Ankaran municipal councillors on Monday, regional daily Primorske novice reported on Tuesday, four days after Koper city councillors confirmed a similar decree.

The increase in the building land fee affects only the land housing facilities of the port operator. It was required among others due to delimination between the two municipalities following Ankaran's split from Koper.

As a result, it was essential that the decision by Koper be upheld by Ankaran to be valid. Following Monday's decision, Ankaran Mayor Gregor Strmčnik said the municipality did not want to stand in the way of its bigger neighbour as it seeks to close the budget for this year.

The 15% increase will mean that the land fee for the Koper port will rise from EUR 5m to EUR 5.75m.

In announcing the measure, Koper authorities said that the previous decree, dating from 2003, no longer reflects the state on ground as per criteria for the calculation of the fee due to economic development.

Head of the local real estate office Maja Šviligoj Cernaz said the increase in fee was due to improve commercial public infrastructure that had not been brought up to date in the decree so far.

Šviligoj Cernaz explained that the municipality had not changed the decree earlier because of the planned introduction of a real estate tax, which was later scrapped.

Luka Koper has not yet commented on the hike.