August 13 (SeeNews) - Serbia plans to start the construction of the Nis-Plocnik section of a motorway connecting Nis to Kosovo's Pristina next year, prime minister Ana Brnabic has said.
The Nis-Plocnik section represents the first phase of a motorway that is projected to link Nis to Pristina and further southwest to Albania's Tirana and Durres, Brnabic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Saturday.
The construction of the motorway section will facilitate investment in southern Serbia and the exports of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, Brnabic added.
In February, Serbia's infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said the government plans to launch by the end of 2018 a tender and pick a contractor for the construction of the 40 km-long Nis-Plocnik section.
Serbia will receive 212 million euro ($241.3 million) in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the construction of the first section of the motorway connecting Nis to Pristina, Mihajlovic said in November.
($ = 0.878615 euro)