Although the work on Corridor 5C, which connects Ploce with Budapest through our country, started more than two decades ago, we are only halfway there, and the planned completion is in a little more than five years.
It is being built in both entities, but of the 330 kilometers of Corridor 274, it should pass through the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH). A little more than 126 kilometers have been built there so far. The announcements for this year are optimistic. Currently, work is being done on seven construction sites, most of which are in the Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDC).
The route of Corridor 5C in the ZDC is being busily worked on. Of the four active construction sites, the Poprikuse-Nemila section is one of the most demanding. It is currently home to the longest two-tube tunnel of Corridor 5C – the 3,600-meter long Golubinja tunnel, which will the second longest tunnel, and will come after the Prenj tunnel, once the work on it is completed.
”We currently have a breakthrough of 38 percent of the length of the tunnel. At the same time, we are also working on the secondary subgrade because it is a matter of very complex geological conditions, so special excavation protection methods must be applied,” explained Reuf Kadric, representative of the investor Public Company Motorways (JP Autoceste) of the FBiH.
Arnel Music, supervising engineer for geology on the Poprikuse-Nemila route, points out that it is a very bad rock mass.
”On one part of the exit portal, the excavation is carried out by blasting, that is, it is only some, let’s say, ten percent of the total pipes penetrated so far. Everything else is done pneumatically, that is, mechanically with excavators and hammers,” points out Music.
A large number of buildings have already been built on the future route of the highway, which runs through the hilly Zenica-Zepce basin, including the Zenica tunnel. And, in 2022, the Nemila-Vranduk construction site was opened.
”The entire section we are talking about, 21 kilometers, is planned to be completed by the end of 2024,” stated Kadric.
Work has begun on the section Putnikovo brdo 2 – Medakovo, on the route that should connect Zenica and Doboj. The contractors point out that the 8.5-kilometer section should not pose a major challenge.
”On this section there are six bridges, five underpasses, 1 overpass, six hydrotechnical facilities, one KTK tunnel, that is the tunnel that we will dig first, build a tunnel and fill everything again,” says Damir Pestelic, head of the project on the Putnikovo brdo-Medakovo section.
The regulation of the riverbed of the Usora river is planned to be of a similar length.
”We also have the relocation of the existing M4 highway. So, we are building a new main road that goes directly along the Usora River bed. We still need to contract two sections, I think that will happen in a very short time,” added Pestelic.
The plans for this year are also big, but realistic, as the contractors. The opening of six construction sites will mean the construction of a new 75 kilometers, for which 3.4 billion BAMhave been allocated, which represents the largest investment cycle. However, we will have to wait until 2028 for the complete route from Bijaca to Svilaj with a length of 330 kilometers that will connect us with Europe. Whether that deadline is realistic, time will tell, Biznis Info reports.
E.Dz.
