PODGORICA (Montenegro), August 10 (SeeNews) – Montenegro's government plans to complete by 2025 the construction of a new container terminal at Bar port at an estimated cost of up to 2.5 billion euro ($2.9 billion), according to a document published by the transport ministry on Monday.
The minimum cost of the project, which will be implemented as a public-private partnership, is estimated at 1.6 billion euro, according to the government's Maritime Economy Development Strategy for the period 2020-2030 published on the website of the transport ministry.
The container terminal will have a footprint of 140 hectares and will be capable of handling container ships with a capacity of more than 22,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the document, adopted by the Montenegrin government on July 30, shows.
"By building a new container terminal, Montenegro would have the chance to represent the first port in Europe for ships coming from Asia," the government says in the document.
The strategy also envisages the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Bar port under a concession contract or a public-private partnership scheme.
In February, the executive director of state-run port operator Luka Bar [MNG:LUBA], Vladan Vucelic, said the company is considering the construction of a LNG terminal to handle imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas into Europe.
($ = 0.851021 euro)