March 12 (SeeNews) - Croatia signed on Thursday a 2.418 billion kuna ($357 million/318 million euro) contract with Turkey's Cengiz for the revamp of a 42 km railway section leading to the border with Hungary, the Croatian government said.
The project includes the reconstruction of the existing railway track between the towns of Krizevci and Koprivnica, in the northern part of the country, and the construction of a new one to double the existing, the government said in a statement.
On behalf of Croatia, the contract was signed by railway infrastructure operator HZ Infrastruktura, the statement reads.
Works are expected to start in April and to be completed in 42 month, ending in October 2023, the head of HZ Infrastruktura, Ivan Krsic, said in the same statement.
Apart from the construction and reconstruction of railway tracks, the project also includes the revamp of nine railway stations and stops, seven bridges, two viaducts and 21 underpasses and overpasses.
In addition, 25 km of sound protection walls will be built and six railway crossings will be upgraded, the statement reads.
In July 2019, HZ Infrastruktura said it received ten bids in a tender for the upgrade and doubling of the Krizevci-Koprivnica line.
The project is of strategic importance for Croatia, representing the biggest railway infrastructure investment in the country's recent history, with 85% of the financing coming from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), HZ Infrastruktura has said.
It aims to improve the railway link in the Croatian part of the Mediterranean corridor, which stretches from the border with Hungary via Zagreb to the Adriatic port of Rijeka, helping increase the port's cargo traffic and its competitiveness.
The Mediterranean corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) connects Croatia to neighbouring Hungary and Slovenia, and Southern Europe to Eastern Europe, from Spain to the Ukrainian border.
(1 euro = 7.60278 kuna)