Bosnian Transport Minister expects that the government will soon issue its approval.

Minister of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ismir Jusko said on Saturday that he expected that the Bosnian Council of Ministers, of which he is a member, would soon make a decision to allow Croatia to construct the Pelješac Bridge, stressing that there was no dispute about the dimensions of the bridge, reports tportal.hr on January 22, 2017.

“Experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina negotiated with colleagues from Croatia about the issue of the Pelješac Bridge. Colleagues from Croatia said that the bridge should be 48 metres in height, but our delegation demanded that it should be 55 metres, which was approved. Also, Croatian representatives wanted to make the distance between the central pillars of the bridge 200 meters, but we demanded that it should be 280 metres, and that was accepted as well”, said Minister Jusko. “The document was signed by the two delegations and I have submitted it to the Prime Minister, since I do not have the right to make the decision myself”, he added. Jusko said that now there are no more obstacles to approve the construction of the Pelješac Bridge.

Tomislav Tolušić, former Croatian Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds and current Agriculture Minister, said earlier that the contract for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge could be signed in the spring and that all problems with Bosnia and Herzegovina related to the dimensions of the bridge had been solved.

The first phase of the public tender for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge is currently underway. There are 12 consortia and companies which have applied for the contract, and at the end of this month or early next month Croatia will announce which bidders will enter the second round of the procurement process.

The Pelješac Bridge will connect Dubrovnik and the surrounding area with the rest of Croatia, so that travellers do not have to enter Bosnian territory. Although the bridge will be constructed over Croatian territorial waters, the approval of Bosnia and Herzegovina is necessary because the bridge could block access to Bosnian coast around the town of Neum.