The Rijeka Port Authority Steering Board terminated a contract with Kajima Corporation from Japan on the construction of a 300-m container terminal to be built as part of the Rijeka Gateway Project.
The funds intended for the construction of this terminal in the Rijeka Port will be redirected into the construction of a 300-m extension of another terminal in the port, said the state secretary for the sea and head of the Rijeka Port Authority Steering Board, Branko Bacic.
Bacic added that bids for the construction of the extension would be invited by the end of the year.
The project which was to have been carried out by the Japanese company will be continued in cooperation with the World Bank. Instead of the planned first stage of construction of the 300-m waterfront, the new project will focus on the improvement of the seabed and the construction of a 600-m dock, partly in line with the model of public-private partnership. The project is expected to be completed by 2013.
The Steering Board said the reason for the termination of the contract with Kajima Corporation was the company's failure to start construction works on the terminal.
Problems with this project started after it was established that the seabed in that part of the Rijeka Port was porous, which was not envisaged by the original project drawn up by the Japanese company Nippon Koei. This led to the need to move the deadline for the completion of the project to mid 2010.
The Croatian government granted an additional US$58.5 million for the improvement of the seabed, but no agreement could be reached with the contractor considering the new conditions.
The construction of the new container terminal in the Rijeka Port is the most expensive and most important part of the Rijeka Gateway Project, which is aimed at reorganising and modernising the port. The project is financed with a loan from the World Bank and budgetary funds, with the Croatian government having provided guarantees.
The World Bank has approved a loan amounting to some $156 million for the modernisation of the port and roads leading to it. The total value of the Rijeka Gateway Project is estimated at $266 million.
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