As Morski writes on the 21st of January, 2020, the Chinese were introduced into the construction of the long awaited Peljesac bridge back at the end of July 2018, and the total value of the works carried out so far, according to Croatian Roads (Hrvatske ceste), stands at 619.9 million kuna.
This means that more than a third of the planned works have already been done on the future bridge in Dalmatia, since the total contracted price of its construction is 2.08 billion kuna, according to a report from Vecernji list.
China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the Chinese company contracted to build Peljesac bridge, has committed to construct the bridge within three years of the launch of the works, which means by the end of July 2021. The first contingent of segments of the steel span structure of Peljesac bridge will apparently start moving from two plants in China over to Croatia at the end of this week.
Croatian Roads says they have received confirmation from CRBC that the first 29 segments of the span structure will head to the construction site of the bridge on January the 25th, on Chinese New Year. It is foreseen that ships with construction material will travel to Croatia for a maximum of 35 days, but it is expected that they will arrive at the construction site as soon as possible. Thus, it is anticipated that the first segments of the span structure will be delivered during the second half of February.
There are currently 629 workers at the Peljesac bridge construction site, of which 132 are technical and support staff, and the rest are machinists and sailors on board ships, as well as machinery. Currently, 21 vessels are being used for the construction of the bridge, namely cranes, barges for the carriage of structural members, ferries, tugboats and of course personnel ships carrying staff members.
As for the construction of access roads, more specifically the Duboka – Sparagovici/Zaradeze section, the contractor of which is Austria’s Strabag, things finally got moving on the 13th of November 2019. According to Croatian Roads, the project documentation, location and building permit have all been formally submitted to the contractor, and they have submitted the timetable for the work under review for approval. By the end of December 2019, Strabag had begun organising construction sites, clearing the routes and will begin with more serious construction work this month.
Greece’s Avax, however, got the green light for the construction of the Ston bypass, the Sparagovici/Zaradeze – Prapratno and Prapratno – Doli subdivisions, and it was put into operation on the 5th of December last year. Avax has also officially submitted project documentation, location and building permits, and the company has submitted a timetable for the works, which is currently under review by representatives of engineers and Croatian Roads. Avax started organising the construction site by the end of December 2019, and this month they’ll also begin with preparatory work.
Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more on Peljesac bridge.
