ZAGREB, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Ivica Budimir, the CEO of the state-run road operator Croatian Roads, has emphasized the significance of a new infrastructure project, a 14.75-km expressway to be built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).

He praised the ongoing partnership between Croatian Roads and the CRBC. "This is an extremely important project for Croatia, especially for the Slavonia region, as this road will connect Pozega and Godinjak, and in the future, the freeway will connect more cities," Budimir said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Croatian Roads and the CRBC inked the 160-million-euro deal for the project on May 7. The project, which will connect Pozega and Godinjak in eastern Croatia, includes the construction of a 3.34-km tunnel, three overpasses, six underpasses, and one underpass tunnel.

"This expressway will significantly shorten the journey to Pozega and all surrounding towns, speed up traffic, and we expect an increase in economic activities in the area," Budimir noted.

Budimir called the expressway the second-largest project that Croatian Roads has undertaken with the CRBC since 2015.

"The largest project was the construction of the Peljesac Bridge. We can say that we are signing a major project again with the same Chinese company, which makes it very significant," Budimir said, commending the successful cooperation between the two sides.

Describing the cooperation with Chinese experts and engineers as "very good," he said everything has proceeded smoothly, including cooperation with supervisory engineers, and engagement with local units and communities. "We are extremely satisfied," he added.

While acknowledging that there are always difficulties during the construction of a major project, Budimir voiced confidence in resolving them. "We expect that the expressway project in Pozega will also be completed successfully on time," he said.