INT. TENDER ONLY SOLUTION FOR VC CORRIDOR - BOSNIA PRESIDENCY HEAD

MOSTAR, Aug 23 (Hina) - The chairman of Bosnia's state presidency has reiterated opening an international tender for the construction of road corridor Vc's section through Bosnia is the only solution because the okay given the Bosnian-Malaysian company Bosmal to raise funds and the submission of the Croatian government's offer has sparked interest among companies in Austria, Italy and Turkey. #L# "Offers from many companies and states are a good thing and now I am convinced that an international tender, something I have been personally advocating for a long time, will give us the best solution," Dragan Covic said as quoted by Mostar media on Saturday. He said the Hypo group, Austria's Alpina Strabag and several companies and consortiums from Italy and Turkey had shown great interest in building the Bosnian section of the Vc corridor. Covic ruled out the possibility of favouring certain offers "because this is too important and too valuable a project for Bosnia and Herzegovina". He recalled the project's value was estimated at over three billion euros, and said that only an international tender would guarantee that the highway was completed on time and within budget. On another subject, Covic, a Croat, denied that the Bosnian presidency's Muslim member, Sulejman Tihic, tried to undermine the signing of a protocol between Bosnia's Council of Ministers and Croatia's government intended to change parts of an agreement on the southern Croatian seaport of Ploce and free transit through the Bosnian territory of Neum. Covic said the protocol should be signed as soon as possible as it was a condition for Croatia to put the ratification of the agreement into parliamentary procedure. (hina) ha