ZAGREB (Croatia), November 12 (SeeNews) – Croatian blue-chip power transmission equipment maker Dalekovod said on Monday it signed a deal worth 560 million kuna ($111 million/76 million euro) with state-owned road building and management company Autocesta Rijeka-Zagreb (ARZ) to supply and install electrical, transport and other equipment in the second stage of the construction of a motorway linking Rijeka on the country's Adriatic coast with the capital Zagreb.
The deadline by which construction should be completed is December 20, 2008, Dalekovod said in a statement.
The first stage involving the construction of 102.37 kilometres of the 145 kilometre Zagreb- Rijeka motorway was completed in June.
The Zagreb-Rijeka motorway is part of the E65 motorway from Budapest to Rijeka, running along the route of the pan-European Corridor Vb.
This Croatian motorway connects the capital Zagreb with Rijeka, Croatia's biggest sea port and an important trade and shipbuilding centre. Rijeka is Croatia's third biggest city with a population of 150,000 and a gateway to the northern Adriatic, a popular destination for tourists. Rijeka is also an important junction with links to the Istria peninsula to the west and the city of Split in the south.
Croatia has announced plans to invest 33 billion kuna in motorway construction in 2005-2008, 13% more than in the previous four years.
The shares of Dalekovod traded at 1,595 kuna on Monday by 1100 GMT on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, up from Friday’s closing of 1,590 kuna.
(1 euro=7.3423 Croatian kuna)