June 17 (SeeNews) - Road company Autoputevi Republike Srpske will launch on Monday the construction of the first section of European transport Corridor Vc in Bosnia's Serb Republic entity, local media reported.
The construction of the Johovac - Rudanka section, 5.65 km in length, will be financed through a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a grant from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), news portal klix.ba reported last week.
The works will be carried out by Bosnian civil engineering company Integral Inzenjering and North Macedonia's Granit.
The part of Corridor Vc on the territory of the Serb Republic will be 46.6 kilometres long, from the town of Doboj to Vukosavlje, and will cost some 500 million euro ($560.9 million/977.9 million marka).
The second section of the corridor, from the Rudanka loop to Karusa, on the Serb Republic's southern border, is some 6 kilometres in length. The third section, some 13 km in length, will stretch from the Johovac loop to the Podnovlje loop, while the fourth section, some 23 kilometres in length, will connect Vukosavlje to the Podnovlje loop.
Corridor Vc is the main international transport corridor in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its development is a strategic priority for the country. The road is part of the Western Balkans Core Network. It has been established as an extension of the Trans-European Transport Networks and will eventually link the Hungarian capital Budapest to the Croatian Adriatic port of Ploce.
The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous entities forming Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Federation.
(1 euro = $1.12163)