COMMISSION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF ZAGREB-SPLIT HIGHWAY HOLDS SESSION

ZADAR, Feb 25 (Hina) - A commission in charge of construction of the Zagreb-Split highway convened at the Zadar airport on Tuesday, to discuss, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ivica Racan, a report on construction works on the highway and proposals on highway junctions near Split. #L# Croatian Roads director Stanko Kovac informed the premier and other members of the commission that works on the highway were proceeding as planned and that there was no doubt that the highway would be completed within the set deadline. The works would speed up as soon as the weather improves, he added. Kovac commended the cooperation between the Croatian Roads and the Croatian Mine Action Centre. He said that doubts regarding some junctions, primarily near Zadar and Sibenik, had been removed and that solutions were being sought for junctions at Prgomet and Dugopolje near Split. Representatives of Split County were primarily interested in junctions near Split. Racan said it would be best "if the highway could reach Dubrovnik tomorrow, but we have to be realistic". "There is no doubt that the highway would be built from Dugopolje further towards the south," he added. Racan bound the Croatian Roads to build a road from the Zadar port of Gazenica to the interchange Zadar II with all the characteristics of a highway, which, he said, would remove doubts regarding the project in Zadar County. Attending the session were also Ministers Radimir Cacic, Ronald Zuvanic and Ingrid Anticevic-Marinovic, Zadar County prefect Sime Prtenjaca, Zadar mayor Bozidar Kalmeta, and Split County prefect and deputy prefect Branimir Luksic and Josko Kovac. Earlier in the day Racan met Zadar county officials and MPs from the county. He also met church dignitaries, with whom he discussed the Holy Father's visit to Zadar, the Iraqi crisis and Croatia's drawing closer to the European Union. (hina) rml