By Ashley Karen
Bosnia’s state highways agency Autoceste has chosen Turkish construction firm, Cengiz Insaat Sanayi, to construct the Medakovo-Ozimice section of European transport Corridor Vc.
As Autoceste reported, Cengiz submitted the lowest bid in the tender and attracted three offers. The contract is worth €361.8 million for constructing the 21.3km section, with work to be finished within 30 months.
The project contains one 2.2km-long tunnel, one interchange, two rest areas, eight bridges and viaducts, two overpasses, and 15 underpasses.
The 700km-long Corridor 5c – or ‘Vc’ (if using a Roman numeral), is a critical pan-European transport connection linking Hungary and eastern Croatia to neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Adriatic Sea. Corridor Vc connects the Ploce port in Croatia with Budapest in Hungary, extending some 340 km across Bosnia.
Most of the section crosses Bosnia and Herzegovina and is a critical priority for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and its partners, particularly the European Union, which assisted with funding the project.
The work is financed through a loan provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a grant by the European Union (EU).
Croatia opened a section of the Corridor 5c motorway between Halasica Bridge and the town of Beli Manastir last December.
