Croatian Motorway current status
It is well-known that Croatia in recent years has invested a large amount of money in construction of a new motorway system, the result has been that Croatia now have some of the best highways infrastructures in Europe, although the build out is still not finished.
The financing of the motorway has been done through loans adopted by the Croatian government, considering the situation in the global bank market it is questionable it the last parts of the motorway can be finished.
Current situation is that there is no money, nighters the government nor the Croatian Motorways company are planning to obtain further loans, so the official program of the highway construction in Croatia in the next four years will be very poor. The lack of money will also mean that some of the already signed contracts for the road construction will be canceled and 10.000 people could stay without their jobs.
There is a potential risk of law suit for determination of these contracts, lots of people find I very strange how these contract could be signed, with out having a proper financing in place.
According to speculation the only the construction works which has already started will he finalized, which is the following motorway sections:
- highway Ravca-Ploce,
- section Jakuševac-Velika Gorica,
- Peljesac bridge – construction will continue, but much slower
Contract signed for the following motorway sections will be cancelled:
- Bridge over the Drava River
- Corridor 5C highway
- Zagreb-Sisak highway
- Dubrovnik-Doli highway
Currently the Ministry of Transportation will not confirm this, but they have announced that the construction the next years will be far more modest than previous years.
This week, Croatian Motorway Department will have meetings in London and Luxembourg with one goal – to complete negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB). Plan is to get a financing agreement with the European banks for the three projects motorway sections already under construction.
The most interesting part of all this, is that Croatian Government and Croatian Highways have no intention to withdraw from building the very expensive and unjustified Peljesac bridge.
What is reason for that? Speculation is, that some large Croatian companies, who has being buying cheap land from the farmers on Pelješac, for some reason now for some reason have to cash in. Considering that the last part of the highway, anyway can not be build, do to the lack of financing, it seams very strange why this bridge, which will cost the Croatian tax payers one billion and 950 million kuna (265 Mio. euro), is not the first project to be cancelled.
The few olive and grape growers on Pelješac (well known in that area) can for sure live without an expensive “toy” like this one.
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