The construction of the last, 11-kilomtre-long section of the 47.5-kilometre-long Zagreb-Sisak motorway, is expected to start his month, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Friday.

Following the latest tender for this project, which was advertised after some bidders appealed against the previous decisions on the selection of companies for this job, the Croatian motorways operator HAC again selected the bid by Colas Hrvatska and Geotehnika consortium worth HRK 281.3 million (without VAT), that is approximately €38 million.

There has been no appeal in the meantime, and according to an unofficial source quoted by the daily the contract is expected to be signed next week.

A deadline for the completion of the Lekenik-Sisak section is 24 months. If the last section is constructed as planned, the whole motorway will have been finished by 2024, or 18 years after its construction started.

So far, 36 kilometres of the whole route have been built.

It was former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader who in late 2005 announced the beginning of the construction for early 2006. At that time the project of the future motorway was estimated at 200 million euros.