November 8 (SeeNews) - The government of Bosnia's Serb Republic launched the construction of a motorway that will connect its administrative centre of Banja Luka to the city of Prijedor - an investment project worth an estimated 297 million euro ($343 million), it said.
The motorway will be built under a concession contract by China's Shandong Hi-Speed Group, with construction works expected to be completed by the end of 2024, Serb Republic prime minister Radovan Viskovic said in a statement on Saturday.
The motorway will be 40.7 kilometres in length, the city of Prijedor said in a separate statement.
In 2018, the Serb Republic signed a concession contract with China Shandong International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group, part of Shandong Hi-Speed Group, for the construction and operation of Banja Luka - Prijedor motorway. This is the first section of the future Banja Luka - Prijedor - Novi Grad motorway.
The concession for the Banja Luka - Prijedor motorway was granted for a period of 33 years, including the three-year period of construction works. Shandong will design, build, manage and maintain the Banja Luka - Prijedor motorway and finance its construction. During the period of operating the motorway, it will pay an annual fee of 32.5 million euro to the Serb Republic, the entity government said back in 2018.
The Serb Republic is one of the two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other is the Federation.
($ = 0.8655 euro)