The state-owned road construction and maintenance company Hrvatske Ceste (HC) on Friday selected contractors for access roads to the Peljesac Bridge, awarding a contract for two subsections of the Ston bypass road to the Greek company Avax and a contract for the Duboka-Sparagovici section to the Austrian company Strabag.

Avax made an offer of HRK 511.5 million for the subsections Sparagovici-Prapratno and Prapratno-Doli, which are 18 kilometres long in total, while Strabag offered HRK 478.3 million for the 12-km-long Duboka-Sparagovici section.

The decision may be appealed within 10 days.

The agreement for the construction of the Peljesac Bridge with access roads, worth HRK 2.08 billion without VAT, was signed on 23 April 2018 by Hrvatske Ceste and China Road and Bridge Corporation. Eighty-five percent of eligible costs will be covered by the EU.

The construction of the Peljesac Bridge is the first of four phases of a project for road connectivity with southern Dalmatia. The other phases include the construction of access roads, and the construction of the Ston bypass road includes the construction of a bridge. The tentative deadline for the completion of all works is 31 January 2022.

(EUR 1 = HRK 7.38)