September 26 (SeeNews) - Autoceste FBiH, the state-owned motorway operator of Bosnia's Federation, said on Monday it has received eight bids in a pre-qualification tender for the construction of the Prenj road tunnel - an assignment worth an estimated 400 million euro ($385.7 million).
The tender attracted three bids from companies based in Turkey, two from companies in China, one from an India-based company and two bids from consortia from Turkey and South Korea, respectively, the road company said in a press release.
The company will now evaluate the offers in order to select bidders which will move to the next stage of the tender. In the second stage, bidders will have to submit their financial offers, Autoceste FBiH said.
Autoceste FBiH launched the tender in July. In early September, the company extended the deadline to September 19 from September 5 on the request of interested contractors due to the complexity of the project.
The project envisages the construction of a 10.45 km tunnel and the tunnel portals on both sides. Construction works are expected to begin in the first half of 2023, Autoceste FBiH said earlier.
Last week, Autoceste FBiH launched a 20 million euro tender for the construction of access roads on both sides of the tunnel Prenj with a total length of 14 kilometres.
The tunnel is part of pan-European Corridor Vc, which has a total length of 700 km and connects the Adriatic port of Ploce in Croatia with Budapest in Hungary via Bosnia. Its length in Bosnia is some 340 km.
The Federation is one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other is the Serb Republic.
($ = 1.03715 euro)