Chinese build Croatian bridge avoiding Bosnia

Croatia's state-owned road company, Croatian Roads, has announced that the Chinese Road and Bridge Corporation will build the Pelesac Bridge, which will be the country's largest infrastructure project.
Offers by Chinese state-owned company was cheaper than that of Austrian Strabag ʹ 279m euros compared to 351m euros.

An Italian-Turkish consortium had also competed in this tender, but was rejected due to a non-valide bank guarantee.

The tender was opened in September last year and companies had four months to present their bids.

The bridge linking Croatia's coastline with the southern Peleshac peninsula is important because it bypasses the short belt of the Bosnian coast, which disrupts the continuation of Croatia and the EU's territory.

For this reason, the European Commission announced in June last year that it will support 85 per cent of the bridge-building funds.

Bosnian politicians have often rejected the bridge project with the reason it will limit the arrival of large ships to the Bosnian port of Neum.

China has achieved other investments in Croatia, but Chinese companies are becoming more and more present in the rest of the Balkans.