April 22 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plans to co-finance the construction of the Matesevo-Andrijevica section of Montenegro's motorway linking the port of Bar to the border with Serbia, EBRD president Suma Chakrabarti has said.
"Our bank has already helped to prepare the preliminary design of two sections of the motorway, as well as a feasibility study for the entire project. After the study is finished, we will issue a final co-financing decision and help Montenegro for the Matesevo-Andrijevica section," Chakrabarti said in a video file published on the website of Montenegrin public broadcaster RTCG on Monday.
The construction of the 21 km-long Matesevo-Andrijevica represents the second phase of the project and will require an estimated investment of 294.8 million euro, according to data published on the website of the project. China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) plans to complete the construction of the Smokovac-Metesevo section, the first stretch of the motorway linking Bar to Boljare, on the Serbian side of the border, by the middle of 2020, CCCC executive chairman Liu Qitao said earlier this month.
"Energy, transport, infrastructure and the private sector - these are areas where we want to invest," Chakrabarti said in the video file.
The 129 km-long Bar-Boljare motorway is part of European transport Corridor XI, a ferry/motorway route linking Italy's Bari to Romania's Bucharest via Montenegro's Bar port and Serbia's Belgrade.
($ = 0.88926 euro)