Construction Begins on Last of Three Missing Sections of D3 Motorway

Kysucke Nove Mesto, 26 February (TASR) - A ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday launched the construction of the last of the three missing sections of the D3 motorway in the Kysuce area. The stretch between the town of Kysucke Nove Mesto and the village of Oscadnica (both Zilina region) is just under ten kilometres long and should be completed in 2029. The contract price for the work slightly exceeds €261 million. "I'm pleased that we're able to hand over the construction sites shortly after signing the contracts for the work. You can see that the preparatory work is in full swing all along the way here, with trees being felled and the relocation of utility networks underway," said Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee). The most advantageous bid in the public tender for the construction of the Kysucke Nove Mesto-Oscadnica D3-motorway section was submitted by Skanska SK, which undertook to build the project for €261.3 million, ex-VAT. Five bidders competed for the contract, and the winning bid was approximately €46 million lower than the estimated value of the contract. Director of the National Highway Company (NDS) Filip Machacek stated that the section is more than 9.6 kilometres long. "There are 22 bridges and a total of 220 structures. Thirteen bridge structures are directly on the route, and five bridges are on road relocations that must give way to the motorway and will subsequently be built," he noted, adding that that extremely heavy traffic is the biggest complication in constructing the Kysuce motorway. The Kysucke Nove Mesto-Oscadnica D3-motorway section is one of three missing sections of the D3 motorway, the others being Oscadnica-Cadca, Bukov 2nd half-profile, and Zilina, Brodno-Kysucke Nove Mesto. When the sections are completed, the motorway network in Kysuce will have been extended by 26 kilometres. The work to complete the D3 is being 85-percent financed via EU funds, with the rest coming from the state budget. The total value of the three contracts slightly exceeds €890 million. am/df