The construction of the highway towards Dubrovnik will resume without any delays, Kalmeta said after a meeting with the Split County leadership and representatives of the Croatian Roads and Croatian Highways companies which focused on a four-year programme of road construction in Split-Dalmatia County.
The Zagreb-Split highway will be completed by the summer of 2005, when the section from Vrpolje to Pirovac and the Mala Kapela tunnel will be completed.
Testing activities for a bridge to link the mainland with the southern Adriatic peninsula of Peljesac are under way, and construction works could start as early as next year, the minister said.
The Dugopolje-Bisko section will not be completed until next summer, Kalmeta said, explaining that this was due to the government's decision not to award the contract directly to the US "Bechtel" company but invite bids, which is why it will not be possible to complete the section within the announced deadline.
Some two billion kuna will be invested in the modernisation of roads in Split-Dalmatia County by the summer of 2005.
Kalmeta said that the agreed construction dynamics was optimal considering the burden of 1.6 billion kuna inherited from the former government.