$600M AGREEMENT SIGNED ON BUILDING FIRST SECTION OF MOTORWAY

( Editorial: --> 4482 ) DUBROVNIK, April 3 (Hina) - The Croatian Government and the United States company Bechtel signed an agreement in Dubrovnik on Friday on building the first section of a future motorway linking northern and southern Croatia through Bosnia-Herzegovina. The first section, from Bregana on the border with Slovenia to the border with Bosnia, is 120km long. The agreement worth US$600 million is one of the largest signed by the Government. The agreement was signed by Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic, Bechtel vice-president Charles Redman, and Aleksandar Caklovic, director of the public enterprise Croatian Roads. This agreement represents implementation of the first phase of the Government's plan to link Croatia with European transport routes. Construction will be financed by a combination of foreign and commercial loans which will be guaranteed by the Croatian Government. American bank Exim has granted an export loan of US$200 million. Radic said this was the first American export loan in Croatia and he expressed hope that in the near future there would be such loans in other economic fields. Caklovic said the part of the motorway from Bregana to Zagreb would be built this year and the section from Zagreb to Sisak next year. The motorway is planned to go from Zagreb to Dubrovnik (southern Croatia) via Bihac (Bosnia). Also present at the meeting were US Ambassador to Croatia William Montgomery, Bosnian Ambassador to Croatia Hasan Muratovic, Dubrovnik-Neretva County Prefect Jure Buric, Dubrovnik Mayor Vido Bogdanovic, Croatian Ambassador to the US Miomir Zuzul and Bechtel regional advisor Zdenka Gast. (Hina) jn mb-jfk /ha 031707 MET apr 98