ALL HIGHWAYS IN CROATIA WILL BE COMPLETED BY 2010 - PRESIDENT

BREZNICKI HUM, April 16 (Hina) - By 2010 Croatia will have completed works on all the highways it is currently building, President Stjepan Mesic said on Wednesday after visiting a section of the Zagreb-Gorican highway in the north. #L# Accompanied by many guests and officials, the President toured the last two sections of the highway, on which work is expected to be over by November. Mesic said Croatia had selected the best world model for road- building, which he added could be seen from how fast works were progressing. Croatia has become the biggest highway construction site in Europe by choosing the best financing model, Mesic said, stressing highways were not financed from the budget but strong sources used specifically for that purpose. He said the most important thing about the Zagreb-Gorican highway was that it would link the border on Hungary with Rijeka, Croatia's largest seaport, in northern Adriatic. Croatia is currently building some 450 km of highways, of which 150 km will be opened for traffic this year, as well as about 40 km of tunnels, said the President. He hoped Croatia would be able to "sell" its highway financing and building models to the other countries in the region. Mesic said similar ventures were being considered for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro, whose delegations were expected to visit Croatia. He said the Adriatic-Ionian Highway was also becoming a reality and that all countries from the Italian border to Greece were interested. Mesic said Croatia was interested in building with Bosnia a highway from Ploce northwards to Budapest, via Osijek. He added each country had to build its section and that both sides were interested. Radimir Cacic, minister for public works, reconstruction and construction, said financial schemes had been closed this year for 150 km of highways. (hina) ha