LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), April 23 (SeeNews) – Turkey's Cengiz is preparing to resume works on the 120 million euro ($130 million) second pipe of the Karavanke motorway tunnel in Slovenia later this month April, after suspending the construction in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, local media reported.
According to Slovenian state-owned motorway company DARS, Cengiz will make all efforts to begin preparations for excavating the tunnel already in April, news daily Delo reported on Wednesday.
The Turkish company has shipped the machinery needed for the works to the ports of Koper in Slovenia and Trieste in neighbouring Italy. Yet, because of the coronavirus pandemic it can bring no Turkish workers to Slovenia for the time being, and is looking for Slovenian ones to operate the machines, Delo said.
In March, Cengiz suspended works on the Karavanke tunnel's second pipe because of difficulties with the supply of materials and the housing of workers.
Cengiz launched works on the project only at the beginning of March after signing a contract with DARS at the end of January and submitting the required bank guarantee in late February.
Also in February, the European Investment Bank (EIB) said it was lending 90 million euro to DARS to finance the construction of the new tube of the Karavanke motorway tunnel, which is a key road connection between Slovenia and Austria.
Drilling works on the Austrian side were also suspended in March when Austria closed all construction sites as part of measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus on its territory, local media has reported.
The EIB has said it will provide a 95 million euro loan to Austrian motorway operator ASFINAG to connect an existing motorway in the country to the new tunnel tube.
The Karavanke project will increase safety and reduce queues on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) corridor between the Baltic countries, the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
The future eastern pipe of the Karavanke tunnel on Slovenian territory, to the border with Austria, will be 3,546 metres in length.
($=0.926569 euro)