Many government officials attended the ceremony marking the commencement of works on the Beli Manastir - Svilaj (A5) motorway, held on the construction site of the Zagreb - Vinkovci railway overpass near Donji Andrijevci in the Slavonski Brod - Posavina County. This area is part of the Pan – European 5C Corridor i.e. a branch of the fifth transport corridor linking the Budapest traffic junction with the Adriatic.
By opening the construction site of the A5 motorway, with a total length of 88.5 km and in the value of HRK 2.5 billion, the President of the Croatian Parliament Vladimir Šeks, emphasized that with this event, the Government and the Parliament were expressing their wish for an overall development including all parts of Croatia.
„With this project Croatia is joining very important international traffic corridors, securing a direct exit to the motorway network in the area between the Baltic and the Mediterranean“, said Šeks adding that the A5 would allow a closer economic cooperation between the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, two countries which are historically interdependent.
Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that the Županja - Lipovac section of the Zagreb - Lipovac motorway was expected to be completed next year. He said that construction works were being conducted on a section of the Krapina - Macelj motorway and on Split - Ploče motorway, adding that the semi-motorway Rijeka - Zagreb would soon be turned into a normal size motorway. The PM also announced that the construction of the Zagreb - Sisak motorway would soon be launched.
'Croatia has proofed to be strong enough to face the simultaneous construction of several sections', concluded Sanader adding that the A5, besides its important role in traffic, would also become the driving force for the Slavonian economic development.
'Let us be proud of the goals Croatia achieved in the past and of the goals it still achieving ', said Sanader, stating that Slavonia and the counties of that region have the right to receive the Government's and the Parliament's special attention due to the fact that those parts of the country defended Croatia.
The present were also addressed by Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development Božidar Kalmeta. He stated in his speech that the construction activities related on the A5 would stimulate employment and boost the local economic growth of Slavonia.
The chairman of the board of the Croatian Motorways Mario Crnjak, presented the project of constructing the motorway A5. He said that this project would allow a better traffic integration of all larger urban centers in Slavonia and Baranja with Zagreb and other cities of Central and Western Europe.
Seven interchanges and two technical stations for control and maintenance will be built along the A5. The major structures on the planned A5 motorway are the Drava and Sava river bridges and the railway overpass Vinkovci - Zagreb.
Crnjak explained that the once finalized motorway would also include a closed toll system, adding that that the deadline for the completion of the Sredanci - Đakovo section was October 2007, while the entire Zagreb - Osijek motorway should be completed by 2008.
Šimo Đurđević the County Prefect of Slavonski Brod – Posavina, stated how satisfied he was with the beginning of the project. He thanked the Government for making, on that day's session, so many important decisions regarding the economy of the County of Brod – Posavina.
Marin Srakić, the Bishop of Srijem, was also present to bless the construction activities and all construction workers included in the A5 motorway project.