After the inauguration of this section, the A1 Zagreb-Split-Dubrovnik motorway, with full dual-carriageway standards, is now 467 kilometres long.

The new section, which cost HRK 1.1 billion (approx. EUR 150 million), includes five viaducts, four flyovers and a tunnel. It was built by a consortium headed by the Hidroelektra-Niskogradnja company. The other companies included in the project were Viadukt Zagreb, Konstruktor-Inzenjering Split, Cesta Varazdin, Zagorje-Tehnobeton, Strabag Zagreb, Osijek-Koteks and Ingra, as well as Bau GmbH, Munich.

The road toll for Class 2 vehicles from Zagreb to Vrgorac will be 191 kuna.

Opening the motorway section, Kosor recalled that the opening ceremony coincided with the formal finalisation of Croatia's EU accession negotiations.

Recalling that Croatia would join the EU on 1 July 2013, she said that it would be the first country after Greece in 1982 to enter the Union as a single candidate. In other EU enlargement rounds, groups of countries joined the bloc.

She said that Croatian war veterans deserved the most credit for the completion of the EU talks, having defended and liberated the country under the leadership of Croatia's first president Franjo Tudjman, which was why she dedicated the completion of the EU talks to them.

She said that in 2011, four billion kuna would be invested in motorway construction in Croatia, adding that the section of the Zagreb-Dubrovnik motorway running to Ploce would be completed over the next year. The ultimate goal is to build the motorway all the way to Dubrovnik, Kosor said, adding that the government would not give it up.

She said that road construction would also continue in Slavonia and that preparations had been completed for the start of work on a bridge over the river Drava. She recalled that in the period from 2004 to 2009, 23 billion kuna was invested in the building of 413 kilometres of motorways in Croatia.

The Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Bozidar Kalmeta, said that according to the latest EU statistics covering 37 countries, Croatia ranked 35th in terms of the average price of road construction.

"That means that building roads in Croatia is 40 percent cheaper than in the EU," Kalmeta said.