Three companies submitted bids for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge

Bids from three companies for the construction of the first phase of the Pelješac Bridge were opened today at Hrvatske ceste - Italian Astaldi and Turkish company IC Ictas, German Strabag, and the Chinese consortium "China road and bridge Corporation", HRT reported, agency Patria reports.

Out of eight potential bidders who passed the first pre-qualification phase, the three mentioned bidders submitted bids for the construction of the first phase of the Pelješac Bridge.

Italian Astaldi and Turkish IC Ictas offered to build the bridge for slightly over 657 million KM, Austrian Strabag offered slightly over 683 million KM, and the Chinese consortium led by the company China Road and Bridge Corporation offered slightly over 525 million KM. Prices are without VAT. Bids were opened today at Hrvatske ceste.

Italian Astaldi has already carried out works on the Zagreb - Goričan highway in Croatia, and its Turkish partner built one of the bridges over the Bosphorus. The first phase of the bridge construction includes the construction of the bridge itself and access roads. The deadline for evaluating bids is 120 days, but, as emphasized at Hrvatske ceste, the bids will be reviewed immediately in order to select a contractor as soon as possible.

The project "Road Connectivity to South Dalmatia" envisages the construction of a bridge over the Adriatic Sea in the Bay of Mali Ston, which will connect the Dubrovnik-Neretva County with the rest of the country.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković rejected on Friday the possibility of Bosnia and Herzegovina stopping the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, and stated that the project will be realized "even with the consent of the BiH side".

The Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a Declaration this week, requesting Croatia and the EU to stop the construction of the Pelješac Bridge until an agreement is reached with BiH.

Experts have previously noted that the construction of the Pelješac Bridge would block Bosnia and Herzegovina's access to the open sea, thereby violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea by Croatia.

The European Union has already allocated 357 million euros for the Pelješac Bridge project, but from an interview with European Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke for Večernji list, it can be inferred that Croatia had to agree with BiH regarding this project.

The president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, announced that he will block the adoption of the Declaration in the House of Peoples of BiH, writes NAP.