Entrance to the first section of the Bar-Boljare highway. Photo: BIRN.
Montenegro’s state road construction company Monteput on Friday signed an agreement worth 693.9 million euros with the consortium PowerChina-Stecol, PCCD, to build the second section of its strategic Bar-Boljare highway.
Unlike the first section, this project is to be financed through EU money and not through loans from China.
Monteput CEO Milan Ljiljanic said the Chinese contractor was selected through an international tender conducted under the rules of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, adding that it had submitted the most competitive bid while meeting all technical requirements.
He said the project’s financing structure reflects cooperation between Montenegro and Western financial institutions despite Chinese companies remaining key builders of the highway.
According to Monteput, construction will be financed through a 200-million-euro EBRD loan, a 150-million-euro grant from the European Union, while the remaining funds will come from Montenegro’s own budget.
“This demonstrates a responsible financing model and strong partnership with international institutions,” Ljiljanic said, adding that the contractor must now register a local company and engineering teams before works are expected to begin in late-April.
The Chinese company will have five years to complete the design and construction of the section, followed by a two-year defect liability period.
Ljiljanic said the new stretch is expected to boost the economy in Montenegro’s underdeveloped north and improve internal and regional connectivity.
The Matesevo-Andrijevica section is the second phase of the Bar-Boljare motorway, a planned 165-kilometer highway intended to run from Montenegro’s Adriatic port of Bar to neighbouring Serbia.
The new project follows the completion of the first 41-kilometer Smokovac-Matesevo section, built by China Road and Bridge Corporation and opened in 2022 at a cost of roughly 1 billion euros.
The first phase drew strong criticism, both domestically and from Western officials, over its high price and financing model, as well as over possible Chinese influence in the NATO-member country. Montenegro last year still owed China’s Exim Bank €655 million for the first 41-kilometre section.
Some international media mocked the highway’s first stretch for leading “from nothing to nowhere”, owing to the fact that although traversing mountainous terrain, it failed to connect any urban and business centres.
Montenegrin authorities defended the decision, arguing that no Western companies had submitted competing offers for the technically demanding project.
