August 21 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government plans to start the construction of a motorway that will link the city of Nis with Pristina in Kosovo via Merdare in the second half of 2018, infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic has said.
The construction of the first section of the motorway, connecting Nis to Plocnik, will cost 200 million euro ($234.8 million), while the total investment in the project will amount to 850 million euro, Mihajlovic said in a statement on Friday.
"I expect the works to start in the second half of 2018," Mihajlovic said.
In March, Mihajlovic said the construction of the Nis-Merdare-Pristina motorway was proposed by prime minister Aleksandar Vucic as part of the Berlin Process diplomatic initiative, which aims to improve cooperation between Western Balkan countries.
The construction of the 77 km-long section of the motorway in Serbia is funded by the European Fund for the Balkans.
In September 2016, Mihajlovic said the Nis-Merdare-Pristina motorway, which is part of a bigger project stretching to Albania's capital Tirana and the Adriatic port of Durres, is planned to be completed by 2020.
($ = 0.85168 euro)