The largest Slovenian construction company, Ljubljana’s SCT, has signed a contract to participate in the construction of the ‘Benghazi Gate’ highway in Libya, and for the contract worth 332 million euros, it has already received an advance payment of 60 million euros, Slovenian media reported on Wednesday.
The company secured a guarantee from a consortium of banks, including Unicredit, and the conclusion of the deal was significantly aided by the recent visit of Prime Minister Borut Pahor to Libya and his discussions with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, writes Ljubljana’s Dnevnik. ‘This contract and the related jobs are of such dimensions that our construction sector will have work for at least five years,’ said Ivan Zidar, director and co-owner of SCT, in an interview with the business daily Finance on Wednesday. Due to the recession in the domestic construction industry, his company has reoriented itself to work in foreign countries, and besides Libya, it has significant projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
‘In our market, the prices are such that it is best not to do anything; those who work and do not get jobs are failing,’ Zidar told Finance. The Slovenian construction sector faced difficulties last year due to a significant reduction in activity in the industry, and the volume of construction work in Slovenia is expected to fall by at least 15 percent this year compared to last year, according to estimates from the Chamber of Commerce, Ljubljana’s daily newspaper Dnevnik reported on Wednesday. (H)
