Bosnia’s government and that of the country’s autonomous region Republika Srpska are discussing construction of the Putnikovo Brdo Dva tunnel, part of the Doboj Bypass.
The 53km long bypass is part of the larger 14km upgrading project of the European route Corridor 5C. The route will be an upgrade to motorway standard mostly of existing routes, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The EBRD is investing around €210 million in the overall work.
Bosnian media said that the directors of the two motorway companies Autoputevi Republika Srpska and the federated Bosnian agency Autoceste Federacije BiH are looking to jointly construct the 700m-long Putnikovo Brdo Dva (Dva meaning 2) tunnel and other planned road projects along Corridor 5C within the autonomous region. Republika Srpska was officially created as part of the Dayton Peace Accord that ended the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s.
The upgrading is a follow on operation to the EBRD’s previous projects for the construction of key motorway sections of Corridor 5C in Bosnia Hercegovina. The Corridor connects the Port of Ploce in Croatia with the Hungarian capital Budapest and is part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and South-East European Transport Observatory (SEETO).
Meanwhile, Bosnia’s national roads agency JP Ceste FBiH reports that construction of the Neum-Stolac road is on schedule, with completion is expected by February 2022. The 1km Zaba tunnel and the 2.7km Prapratnica-Hutovo segment are due to be completed this fall.
