Ersek: Bratislava Bypass Project Will Be Delayed

Bratislava, January 30 (TASR) – The Bratislava bypass construction project will be delayed, stated Transport Minister Arpad Ersek (Most-Hid) at a meeting with journalists on Tuesday.

“There will be a certain delay,” said the head of the Transport Ministry, adding that it’s difficult to say how long this delay will be. However, he noted that even the Transport Ministry itself was delayed with building permits in relation to plots of land under the bypass. Because of the problems with their settlement, the ministry had to amend the law, and all building permits were valid as late as in September of last year.

“In the end, we’ll count how long we will have been delayed on our side, and how long they will have been delayed on the other side,” said Ersek. According to the contract, the project is expected to be completed in October 2020, but cars should start riding on the R7 expressway in April 2020.

According to Ersek, the ministry has agreed with the concessionaire that the project’s construction will be launched at full pace from March this year. He went on to say that the concessionaire has contracted all building materials and will cooperate with small subcontractors, not large companies.

The Bratislava bypass project should be composed partly of the D4 motorway and partly the R7 expressway. The project is being built by an association of companies headed by Spain’s Cintra, and it is a public-private partnership project (PPP project).

The concessionaire will build and then operate the bypass for 30 years, for which the state will be paying instalments during the 30-year period. The annual instalment paid by the state should amount to €52.8 million, which will cost Slovakia after 30 years €1.76 billion, taking into account inflation.