The state-owned Croatian road management company Hrvatske Ceste (HC) announced on Thursday that it selected the Greek company J&P-Avax to build an access road leading to the planned Peljesac Bridge in southern Croatia, in a deal worth almost 470 million kuna (€63.5 million).

According to a press release by HC published on Thursday, seven bids were originally submitted for the building of the 13-kilometre access road, with four of them shortlisted for the job.

J&P-Avax is expected to finish the road by January 2022, when the Peljesac Bridge, currently being built by the Chinese CRBC corporation, is expected to be completed as well.

The Peljesac Bridge is intended to link the Croatian mainland and the Peljesac Peninsula, bypassing a 15 kilometre-long strip around the city of Neum that represents Bosnia and Herzegovina’s only coast on the Adriatic Sea. The bridge would cut travel time between the Dubrovnik area and the rest of the country by circumventing customs and border controls around Neum.

Some in Bosnia, predominantly from Bosniak and left-leaning political parties, oppose the construction of the Bridge because they believe it might prevent large vessels from entering Bosnia's Bay of Neum, threatening the country's access to open sea. They also claim that the border between the two countries in the bay remains undefined.

(€1 = 7.40 kuna)

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