Work is expected to re-start soon on Bosnia’s Hranjen Tunnel, part of the Goražde-to-Sarajevo highway re-routing project that will shave 95km off the existing route.
Travel time will be down from 90 minutes to only 45, according to media reports and government documents.
Cost of the nearly 6km-long double-tube tunnel will be around €92 million with phase one amounting to nearly €36 million. But Sarajevo-based contractor Euro-Asfalt has struggled to keep with the schedule for daily tunnelling for its client JP Autoceste FBiH, the government company that maintains major highways.
Construction work on the tunnel began in September 2019 but the almost €41 million intended for construction of tunnels was exhausted by mid-2021, with only 2.5km of the tunnel built.
Meanwhile, Bosnia will spend €2.81 million to modernise the Zupci and Klobuk border crossings into Montenegro.
The work is part of a larger programme announced last year to upgrade and in some cases construct new border services at 28 road crossings between the two Balkan neighbours.
