Transport Minister Ján Počiatek, along with general director of the National Highway Company (NDS) Milan Gajdoš and a representative of the construction company on Tuesday, October 16, tapped the foundation stone of the western bypass around Žiar nad Hronom in Banská Bystrica region, which is part of the R2 dual carriageway.
"The goal of the construction work is to complete the basic route of the R2 dual carriageway and to create conditions that will facilitate traffic flow in the centre of Žiar nad Hronom for local people. The traffic intensity on the stretch is currently very high, with more than 20,000 vehicles per day, which results in collisions, accidents and traffic jams on the first-category road," said Počiatek as quoted by the TASR newswire. "A stretch of the R2 dual carriageway with a length of 5,760 metres is set to be built, including two braced framed walls 1,025 metres long," said Transport Ministry spokesman Martin Kóňa, adding that a stream will have to be relocated, along with local gas pipelines and water ducts.
When asked by the media about the construction of further stretches of the R2 between Žiar nad Hronom and Trenčín, Počiatek said that the Transport Ministry is planning to build the Ruskovce-Pravotice stretch. Projects concerning the construction of other stretches still are not well prepared at the moment, however. "Nevertheless, we'll attempt to accelerate [the process], with our ambition being to prepare as many stretches as we can so that it will be possible to draw Euro-funds in the second and the following programme period effectively," minister said. The construction work on the bypass was carried out within the Operational Programme Transport, with the EU paying as much as 85 percent of the justified costs. The tender for building the stretch was won by the Strabag company which submitted a bid worth €26.16 million. The expected value of the commission was €56 million.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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