Svilaj Bridge across the River Sava connecting Svilaj in Croatia with Donji Svilaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina will formally open today, and this 660-metre-long structure is located along the strategically important international Vc corridor.

The 29-metre-wide bridge with six lanes is on the pan-European Vc corridor route between Budapest via Osijek and Sarajevo to the Croatian seaport in Ploce.

In mid-June this year, Croatian Transport Minister Oleg Butkovic said that the project was worth €23.4 million.

This is a joint investment of Croatia’s HAC motorway operator and the relevant authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the project was financed by Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina at a ratio of 50:50 with 58% of Croatia’s share part being covered by EU funds from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Butkovic said in June that Croatia ensured a grant amounting to almost €7 million from the Connecting Europe Facility for its half (€11.7 million).

“This corridor is very important. We are completing the (motorway) section to Beli Manastir which will be finished next year and opened to traffic. We have just a few kilometres left to reach the border with Hungary and we expect to complete that by the end of 2023,” said Butkovic on 15 June. He added that Croatia would do everything to have the procedure of categorising the border crossing at Svilaj finished so that the bridge could be opened to traffic as soon as possible.

The construction of the bridge started in 2016, and was completed in 2020.

In attendance at today’s red-ribbon cutting ceremony will be European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Prime Minister Zoran Tegeltija.