Fireworks light up the sky over Croatia's Peljesac Bridge, as viewed from the town of Komarna, on July 29 last year. Celebrations were held to mark a landmark in the bridge's construction. ASSOCIATED PRESS
For Talman Damtare and Ana Vulic, a couple that helped build the Peljesac Bridge linking two parts of Croatia separated by a sliver of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nothing makes them more proud than driving past the structure from a distance with their young daughter.
Damtare, a customs clearance assistant for the project, said he would always point at the majestic bridge and tell his daughter: "Look, that is the bridge mom and dad built with Chinese friends."
Damtare, from Togo in West Africa, and Vulic, a native Croat, have worked on the project for more than three years. They first met in the summer of 2009 in Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu province, when they were students at Nanjing Normal University.
"The project has not only brought family reunion for us, but the good feeling of participating in a great cause. The bridge means so much for everyone in Croatia," said Damtare, referring to the days years ago when he was working in Shanghai while his wife went back to Croatia during her pregnancy.
The 2.4-kilometer-long, 23.6-meter-wide, four-lane bridge was due to officially open to traffic on Tuesday after four years of construction. It was built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, or CRBC, for whom the couple work.
Croatian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butkovic told local media that on the opening day people can come along, from the early morning, to walk across the bridge and be part of the celebrations. The formal opening ceremony will take place in the evening.
The bridge, standing 55 meters above sea level with pylons rising up to 124 meters high, connects the town of Brijesta on the Peljesac Peninsula with the town of Komarna, a construction feat that opens up the peninsula to the rest of the country by road. The structure crosses the Mali Ston Bay over the Adriatic Sea.
"This will facilitate a smooth flow of goods and people, especially at the peak of the tourism season," the European Commission said when approving the spending of 357 million euros ($357 million) from its Cohesion Policy funds for the project in June 2017. The money accounts for 85 percent of the total cost, with the rest covered by Croatia.
The commission also said the bridge "will significantly improve the everyday life of Croatians, through reducing the travel time between Dubrovnik and Split" and "the seamless connection will also greatly benefit tourism, trade and will reinforce the territorial cohesion of the South Dalmatia region with the other part of the country".
The two hot tourist destinations of Split and Dubrovnik are separated by the Neum Corridor, a strip of the Adriatic Sea coastline that is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and which, until Tuesday, has been the only land-based transport route between Dubrovnik and the rest of mainland Croatia. That has meant people have had to travel about 9 km within Bosnia and Herzegovina and pass the European Union's external border controls twice, a requirement that can cost a few hours in the summer peak tourist season.
Dubrovnik, on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites since 1979, draws more than a million foreign tourists each year not only for its outstanding medieval architecture and fortified old town dating to the 7th century but also as one of the sites for the popular US fantasy drama TV series Game of Thrones.
An earlier feasibility study by Croatia of the possible alternatives to connect the two parts of the country concluded that building a bridge would be the most favorable option when it comes to multiple criteria on safety, the impact on traffic and on the environment as well as in cost-benefit analyses, compared with the other options of a highway corridor, a ferry or a tunnel.
The project was assessed by independent experts before its approval by the European Commission. It was also prepared in consultation with the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Croatia first started the construction of the Peljesac Bridge in 2007 but the project was halted in 2010 due to serious financial strains.
CRBC began work on the project on July 30, 2018, just three months after it led a Chinese consortium to win the public tendering by Hrvatske Ceste, the state-owned company responsible for Croatia's public roads.
Despite the enormous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two and a half years, the Chinese company managed to deliver the bridge as scheduled and on time.
The spans of the bridge were connected on July 28, 2021.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic acknowledges the efforts of workers as he walks across the bridge on July 29, 2021. GAO LEI/XINHUA
High standards
Zeng Linghua, the deputy project manager, has been working on the bridge since day one. He said he feels proud that the project has met the high standards required by China, Croatia and the European Union in terms of quality, safety and environmental protection, and that the structure has won praise from many institutions.
"The Peljesac Bridge carries Croatian people's long-cherished hope to connect their territories in the north and south," said Zeng, calling the project the largest cooperative project between China and Croatia.
"It's not just of great strategic significance to Croatia's transport, economy and people's livelihoods but significant in encouraging Chinese construction companies going global and in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative," he said.
The BRI is a Chinese government initiative launched in 2013 to build infrastructural connectivity mainly in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe to boost economic growth.
Zeng recalled the huge challenges during the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 when there were 800 Chinese workers on the construction site at the peak time. Ensuring everyone's safety against the then little-known coronavirus was a top priority. And due to the well-planned safety and preventive measures, no one was ever infected.
Zeng said that as the first Chinese company undertaking a project funded by the European Union, CRBC successfully adapted to the European market.
"In a word, it is a high standard," he said, referring to a wide range of achievements from the bridge's steel structure obtaining Europe's highest EXC4 Class classification to the strict protection of marine life due to the project location in an ecological conservation area.
Xiong Cheng 1, the world's largest pile-driving barge, was deployed for driving the world's longest steel piles, at 130.6 meters long, to lay the foundations for the bridge.
Zeng also attributed the success to the relentless efforts by the team to familiarize and adapt to the EU laws and regulations and develop its own team over the past years, in sharp contrast to the early days when China, Croatia and the EU's different management styles and construction criteria were sometimes at odds with each other on the construction site.
Natali Kolega, who began work on the project as a field engineer after she graduated from the University of Zagreb in 2018, described the job as a great start to her career.
"It means so much for me. It has helped me grow up and transformed me from a student to an engineer. I will forever remember the experience here," she said.
Full of vitality
Kolega described the multinational team, mostly Chinese and Croatians, as full of vitality and hospitality. "It enables me to learn so much from my Chinese and Croatian colleagues," she said.
While working on the bridge project, Kolega, along with six other colleagues, received her engineering accreditation from the Croatian professional civil engineering association, which Kolega called "a highly respected title in Croatia".
Liu Jiaxi, a Chinese field engineer, has worked on the project for the past four years. He described the experience as a process of striving for perfection under multiple challenges.
"The project meets the standards of China, Croatia and the EU. Such an achievement should be attributed to everyone's dedication and their pursuit for excellence in details," he said.
"It also helps me better understand the word 'craftsmanship'," said Liu, who had participated in the construction of the 55-km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge before he joined the Croatia project.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, accompanied by his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic, visited the Peljesac Bridge construction site on April 11, 2019.
They both called the project a good example of what can be accomplished with stronger ties between the two countries.
Li said that the bridge, when completed, will be beneficial to regional peace and development as well as to the livelihoods of people living around it.
"I hope Croatian people will enjoy the convenience the bridge will bring as soon as possible," he said.
Plenkovic told a press conference during Li's visit that Croatia had wanted to build such a bridge for two decades, and Chinese companies and their local partners have demonstrated excellent standards.
"We adhere to the principle of fairness and transparency in the bidding process and the project will promote Croatia's cooperation with China in diverse fields, such as trade and tourism," he said.
The opening of the Peljesac Bridge comes nine years after Croatia joined the EU on July 1, 2013, and five months before the country is expected to switch currencies from the kuna to the euro on Jan 1.
Plenkovic said recently that his country wants to enter the EU's borderless Schengen Area in January.
Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on July 7 that his country, which has assumed the presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of the year, will strive to ensure that the EU grants Croatia entry into the passport-free area.
"This might be possible," he told the Czech News Agency, as quoted by the Euractiv website.
Kolega, reflecting on her time at the construction site as a field engineer, said she has enjoyed all the moments with colleagues, whether during work, partying or on other occasions.
She also loves the Chinese sweet rice congee served by the Chinese chefs there but admits that some Chinese dishes are just too spicy for her.
For Damtare, spicy chicken and egg custard are his favorite foods served at the construction site.
"I love all the Chinese food here," he said.