May 10 (SeeNews) - The Croatian government said it signed on Wednesday a deal with motorway management company Bina-Istra to complete the construction of the Istrian Y motorway, for which Bina-Istra holds a concession.
The deal represents an appendix to a contract on the construction and maintenance of the motorway and envisages investments of some 200 million euro ($220 million) to build a second carriageway between the Ucka tunnel/Kvarner portal and the Matulji interchange, a second viaduct across the Mirna river and the Limska Draga viaduct, the government said in a press release.
At the same time, Bina-Istra as concessionaire signed a deal for management and maintenance and supervision of the completion of the construction of the Istrian Y motorway with French engineering group Bouygues, it added. The construction works should start in July and will last 38 months.
The overall cost of the construction of the motorway is estimated at 600 million euro, transport minister Oleg Butkovic said in the press release.
The completion of the motorway will make it possible to reach Pula in Istria from the capital Zagreb in two and a half hours.
In February, the European Commission approved Croatia's plan to prolong the concession contract with motorway management company Bina-Istra until 2041 in order to allow Bina-Istra to engage in additional works worth 204 million euro on expansion of Istrian Y motorway.
($ = 0.909 euro)