August 11 (SeeNews) - The completion of the full profile of Croatia's Istrian Y motorway is expected by next summer, while the construction of a second pipe of the Ucka tunnel will be finished by the start of 2024, transport minister Oleg Butkovic has said.
Butkovic made the announcement in a statement during the weekend, after the European Commission said on Friday it has approved Croatia's plan to extend the Istrian Y motorway concession contract with local company Bina-Istra, thus opening the way for the concessionaire to invest a further 197 million euro ($231 million) in the project.
"The contract is being extended until 2039, even though we believe the credits will be repaid earlier and the return on investment will take place by 2037, after which everything will come in the ownership of the Republic of Croatia, the complete Istrian Y, including the two pipes of the Uska tunnel," Butkovic said.
The planned 197 million euro investment will go mainly towards the construction of a new 5.63 km-long second tube of the Ucka tunnel, which is necessary to meet the minimum safety requirements, as well as several new viaducts, underpasses and overpasses, the European Commission said last week.
The prolongation of the concession contract will also allow Bina-Istra to finance the construction of a second carriageway (one more lane in each direction) on the 8-km stretch between the Vranja Interchange and the Ucka tunnel/Kvarner portal, on the north-eastern side of the motorway, as well the renewal of the Kvarner rest area, the EC noted.
Butkovic pointed out that the Kvarner motorway (A7), connecting Croatia's largest port of Rijeka to the country's southern and eastern motorway networks in the south and Slovenia in the north, is also going to be completed by the start of 2024, thanks to the planned investment.
Croatia awarded the concession agreement for the operation of the 145-km Istrian Y motorway to Bina-Istra in 1995, with the original concession contract due to expire in 2027. Yet, after several previous prolongations, the contract term had been extended until 2034. In June 2020 Croatia informed the European Commission that it plans to extend the contract further until 2039, in order to facilitate the new investment.
Bina-Istra is a joint venture company of France's Bouygues, Croatian state-owned motorway operators Hrvatske Autoceste and Istarska Autocesta, local energy firm INA and Antin Infrastructure Partners.
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