April 5, 2022 – Minister Oleg Butković visited the Vukovar-Srijem County on Monday, where he held meetings discussing the construction of the Srijem border thoroughfare.
As Glas Slavonije writes, the project will be completed within a maximum of four years.
The Minister of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković paid a working visit to Vukovar-Srijem County on Monday, held a meeting in Ilok with the representatives of the County, and attended the inaugural conference of the project "Construction of the Apševac and Lipovac Thoroughfares".
This is a project by Hrvatske Ceste, which represents the first of the remaining three phases of the Srijem Border Thoroughfare construction project, and includes the construction of a road that will bypass the D57 section of the state road through the villages of Apševci and Lipovac. The grant agreement was signed in March last year, with the total eligible costs of the project amounting to 106 million kuna.
"We have secured funds for one of the most important infrastructure projects in this area, which is being implemented in phases. A few years ago, looking for an opportunity to get started, we obtained the necessary European funds and signed a contract as soon as we had building permits. Our plan is to obtain all building permits by the end of this year, and it is up to Hrvatske Ceste to speed up this process. We will ask for either European funding or as a state take charge of this and some other projects, and therefore I cannot say exactly when the Srijem Border Thoroughfare will be completed", said Butković, explaining that the duration of construction is affected by complaints and tenders, that is, something that is beyond the power of the minister, but that he will give strong support to the project as a matter of priority. He emphasized that the realization of this project involves much more than the transport infrastructure itself, given that construction is of importance for the demography as well as security of eastern Croatia, so he will try to do as much as possible during the mandate of this Government.
"We will not finish everything in two years, it is impossible, but I believe that it will be realized in four years at most. It was previously estimated that the entire project will cost one billion kuna, but we are witnessing an increase in the prices of energy and materials, which makes it difficult to calculate how much it will amount to", stated Butković.
The Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanić emphasized that they discussed several strategic projects that will deal with the development of the economy and the return, i.e. the staying of the population in the Vukovar-Srijem County.
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