PODGORICA (Montenegro), October 30 (SeeNews) – Montenegro's transport minister Osman Nurkovic said on Monday he expects the government's expenditures for the construction of the Bar-Boljare motorway this year to reach 180 million euro ($209 million).
The Montenegrin government plans to invest a total of 809 million euro in the construction of the 165 km Bar-Boljare motorway. The Export-Import Bank of China has extended a $944 million loan to Montenegro with an interest rate of 2% and a six-year grace period for the implementation of the project.
The government has paid a total of 127 million euro for the construction of the motorway since the beginning of the year and China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is expected to carry out works worth 1 million euro daily until January 1, Nurkovic said as quoted in a statement by the transport ministry.
The Chinese company is expected to start by the end of 2017 the excavation works on the Vilac and Mrka tunnels, part of the 41 km Smokovac-Matesevo section of the motorway, Nurkovic said.
CRBC works on the project with 97 subcontractors, as 80 of them are from Montenegro. Some 3,200 workers are engaged in the construction of the motorway and 1,183 of them are Montenegrins, he added.
Last year, Montenegro's transport minister Osman Nurkovic said that the government paid 171.2 million euro for the construction of the motorway in 2016, or 21% of the total budget of the project.
The construction of the motorway started in May 2015. The Smokovac-Matesevo section is considered a priority by the Montenegrin government, due to the complexity of the works, and is expected to be completed in 2019.
($ = 0.8610 euro)