March 11 (SeeNews) - Montenegro plans to start construction on the 21-kilometre Matesevo-Andrijevica section of the motorway linking Bar to Boljare in September, aiming to select a contractor for the estimated 600 million euro ($656 million) project by then, local media reported.
The tender documentation will be completed by the end of the month, allowing for the selection of a contractor, the head of the government's directorate for state roads, Miroslav Masic, told broadcaster RTCG on Sunday.
Under the plan, the project will be financed by the state budget with an option for taking a loan. The estimated value of 600 million will be confirmed once bidding begins, Masic said.
He also said that Montenegro considers applying for European Union grants to support the construction of the Matesevo-Andrijevica section.
The Bar-Boljare motorway will link Montenegro's Adriatic port of Bar to the country's border with Serbia in the north. It is part of European transport Corridor XI, a ferry/motorway corridor linking Italy's Bari to Romania's Bucharest via the port of Bar and Serbia's Belgrade.
The Matesevo-Andrijevica stretch is the second section of the 129-km Bar-Boljare motorway that Montenegro will build. In July 2022, Montenegro opened the first section of the motorway, the 41-km Smokovac-Matesevo stretch, which was built by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC). In January, the government opened a tender for the preparation of a preliminary design for the construction of the third section, the 50-km Andrijevica-Boljare stretch.
In 2014, Montenegro signed a $944 million loan deal with China's Exim Bank for the financing of the Bar-Boljare investment project.
($ = 0.915 euro)