As Morski writes on the 14th of June, 2020, Brodosplit has made a contract with the Greek company Avax for the construction of a steel structure for the Ston bridge and the Prapratno viaduct, facilities on the Ston bypass route, which is part of the project of connecting the extreme south of Croatia and the access roads to the long awaited Peljesac Bridge.
This is the first big job for one of the Croatian companies in the entire road connection project of the south of Croatia with the rest of the country, a project worth three billion kuna. The value of the contract with Avax hasn’t yet been disclosed by Brodosplit, but a large number of its employees, as many of 200 of them, will be engaged in doing that job, according to a report from Vecernji list.
Thus, the Split-based company stated that in addition to the construction of the steel structure for the Ston bridge and the Prapratno viaduct, they also contracted transport to the construction site, installation, joining and anti-corrosion protection.
The works that will be undertaken by Brodosplit employees involves a massive 2580 tonnes of steel construction, and as stated, around 200 workers from the aforementioned shipyard will be engaged in that work – they say from Brodosplit. Avax will construct the Ston bypass, ie the sub-sections Sparagovici – Prapratno and Prapratno – Doli, with a total length of eighteen kilometres, and the contracted value of the works stands at an enormous 511.5 million kuna (excluding VAT).
The construction of the Ston bridge will be a very demanding construction project because there will be tunnels on both sides of the bridge. The Ston bridge will be 485 metres long, on one side there will be the Polakovica tunnel, which is 1242 metres long, and on the other side, the Supava tunnel, which is 1290 metres long. The Prapratno viaduct, at the ninth kilometre of this particular section, will be 223 metres long. Avax was introduced to the construction of the Sparagovici – Doli section back in early December last year, but serious work hasn’t yet begun, partly due to the coronavirus crisis.
From Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste), however, they expect that these works will be completed within the previously agreed period of 28 months. In addition to the work on the access roads, Brodosplit could also get another ”slice of the cake” in terms of being engaged in the works on Peljecac Bridge, and this is something that is currently being negotiated with the Chinese contractor China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
Namely, due to the coronavirus crisis, specialised workers, such as welders and fitters of the steel load-bearing structure of the bridge – can’t come to Peljesac Bridge’s construction site from China. The first 29 of a total of 165 steel structure segments from China arrived at the construction site back in late February this year. There has been no desire expressed by Brodosplit in terms of wanting to talk about putting their welders to work on Peljesac Bridge as there have been no negotiations with the CRBC on the matter yet.
“Given that negotiations on our engagement and cooperation are still ongoing, it wouldn’t be in accordance with good business practice to go public with the details of those negotiations,” a statement from Brodosplit said. The CRBC said that currently, Chinese welders, are already working on the construction site.
“Now we’re trying in all possible ways to get various workers to the construction site from China as soon as possible” they claimed from the CRBC, adding that they will perform all the work in accordance with the contract.
However, they noted that, given the significant impact the coronavirus pandemic has had and continues to have on the project, they, as the contractor, together with the client and the supervising engineers, will assess this impact and try to find a solution.
To briefly recall, the CRBC contracted the construction of Peljesac Bridge for an enormous price tag of 2.08 billion kuna, and it should be completed by July the 31st, 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese announced a possible delay in terms of those deadlines, but they failed to state just how long it could be instead.
Croatian roads still believe that it’s still possible for the bridge to be completed within the agreed deadline. Works on the second part of the access roads are being performed by Strabag. These works worth 478.3 million kuna (excluding VAT) should be completed within 33 months from the date of the introduction of the contractor to the works, and that took place back in mid-November last year.
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