News in English     | 11.10.2019. 16:18 |

Start of construction of the bridge over Sava River marked in Bosanska Gradiška

FENA Dušica Stanojević

BOSANSKA GRADIŠKA, October 11 (FENA) - Onset of the works on the construction of an interstate bridge over the Sava River between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia was marked today in Bosanska Gradiška in the presence of officials from both countries and the European Union.

European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc pointed out that today we are not only celebrating the start of construction works on the bridge but that the project is of much greater importance.

She emphasized that bridges connect people and help us overcome the obstacles that divide us.

“This will be the purpose of this bridge. It is a European perspective and we want BiH to make further progress on its path towards EU,” said Bulc.

She stressed that this was an important project under the Transport and Connectivity Cooperation Program and that the aim was to improve infrastructure links in the Western Balkans, as well as its links with the EU.

“Better connectivity encourages economic development; new jobs are also created, thus increasing the country's competitiveness. BiH benefits greatly from our connectivity program and since 2014 over 215 million EU grants have been approved for 13 projects.

Here, we count on the strong support of neighboring Croatia to make a major step forward as soon as possible,” said Bulc, recalling the benefits this project brings to citizens, the economy, the Western Balkans region and the EU.

Head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative Ambassador Johann Sattler said this bridge represents a new modern border crossing between BiH and Croatia.

“This bridge will create new jobs, shorten border checks and enable full use of the Banja Luka-Gradiška motorway, facilitate the movement of more than half a million people and facilitate regional trade in goods and services,” Sattler said.

He stressed that the EU is here to help find compromise solutions.

“The EU has so far secured more than eight hundred million euros through grants for infrastructure projects in the entire region, and together with the Western Balkans investment framework this amount will exceed one billion euros,” said Sattler.

More than a quarter of those funds, or about 200 million euros are in grants go to BiH, which breaks the cliché, as he said, that BiH comes last.

He recalled that local authorities must implement reform measures to improve connectivity and better maintaining of infrastructure and simplifying of border crossings.

Deputy Minister of Communications and Transport at the BiH Council of Ministers Saša Dalipagić said that this bridge will be a link between two neighboring and friendly countries.

“We in the ministry pay special attention to regional integration in the field of transport and infrastructure, and one such project is the interstate bridge near Bosanska Gradiška,” Dalipagić said and expressed hope that the bridge would permanently solve the problem of crossing the border for people and goods, especially in Bosanska Gradiška.

The contracted value of the works for the construction of the bridge is EUR 19.5 million, without VAT, and the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH and the Croatian Roads will finance the execution of works in equal proportions, at 50 percent each.

The deadline for the completion of the works is 30 months.

Croatian Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković said that bridges have always connected people and that this is certainly evident today.

The implementation of this joint project in the first phase entails the construction of a bridge over the Sava River, which is part of the planned expressway from the Hungarian border via Virovitica and Okučani to the border with BiH, and this section from the border with BiH continues to the Gradiška-Banja Luka motorway and thus connects to the Corridor 661, whose significance, as he stated, goes beyond our borders.

This corridor represents the road transversal between Central Europe and the Adriatic Sea.

Cooperation between BiH and Croatia, he added, is also reflected in other transport projects, such as the joint project for the construction of the bridge in Svilaj, which is expected to be completed early next year, and the established air link between Mostar and Zagreb, as well as many other projects that are planned in the near future.

“The construction of the bridge near Bosanska Gradiška is equally important for Croatia and BiH, which, in addition to joining the two countries, will connect inhabitants on both sides of the Sava River,” Butković said in an address today at the official marking of the start of construction works on the interstate bridge over the Sava River.

The BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik said that “it took 10 years to build the bridge but we did not give up.”

“This is a message to those who would like to leave, that we are building a perspective here for everyone,” Dodik said, reiterating his commitment to the EU, but not to NATO.

The European Union is co-financing this project with EUR 6.8 million in grants, with a loan from the European Investment Bank and funds provided by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

The project is part of a large EU infrastructure investment of EUR 38.4 million, which includes the construction of a border crossing with Croatia on the Banja Luka - Bosanska Gradiška motorway section, as well as the motorway section itself.

(FENA) S. R.

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