LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), June 29 (SeeNews) – The first group of Cengiz's Turkish workers is expected to arrive in Slovenia this week to resume works on the 120 million euro ($135 million) second pipe of the Karavanke motorway tunnel, Slovenian media reported.
The first 30 workers from Turkey will finally resume their work on the project, after their entry to the EU has been blocked for several months due to the coronavirus crisis, state news agency STA reported during the weekend.
Cengiz suspended the construction works in March because of difficulties with the supply of materials and the housing of workers amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
In April, the Turkish company shipped the machines needed for excavating the tunnel to the ports of Koper in Slovenia and Trieste in neighbouring Italy but could bring no Turkish workers to Slovenia because of the travel ban, local media reported at the time.
Cengiz launched works on the project only at the beginning of March after signing a contract with DARS at the end of January and submitting the required bank guarantee in late February.
Also in February, the European Investment Bank (EIB) said it was lending 90 million euro to DARS to finance the construction of the new tube of the Karavanke motorway tunnel, which is a key road connection between Slovenia and Austria.
The Karavanke project will increase safety and reduce queues on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) corridor between the Baltic countries, the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
The future eastern pipe of the Karavanke tunnel on Slovenian territory, to the border with Austria, will be 3,546 metres in length.
($=0.891417 euro)