Montenegrin government paid an advance for the highway construction

By Adnan Prekic

The Government of Montenegro has fulfilled the final obligation in order to start construction on priority sections of the highway. The Government paid an advance payment amounting to 80.95 million euros to the Chinese CRBC, the contractor that is to start construction works on the priority section of the highway Smokovac-Matesevo. The Chinese company has already launched a competition for the employment of local engineers, and the first results are expected to be made known in the next month. According to previously made agreement, the government will pay up the same amount as the advance until the end of March.

This payment has created the preconditions for the payment of the first installment of the advance payment and the first installment of advance payment in the amount of 10 percent of the agreed price for the design and construction, that is 80.95 million euros, that should be paid before 08 March 2015, and by the end of March 2015 should be paid the second installment of the advance payment amounting 10 percent of the agreed price for the design and construction.

In July 2013 the government of Montenegro selected the Chinese consortium: China Communications Construction Company, and the China Road and Bridge Corporation, as the best bidders for the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway, which is the priority section of the route. The offered price for the construction of the priority part of Montenegro’s greatest infrastructural project was  809.58 million euros.

China’s Exim Bank in September approved a loan worth around  687 million euros to Montenegro for the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway’s priority section Smokovac-Uvač-Mateševo. Exim Bank’s preferential loan is to provide 85% or the 689 million euros of the amount, whereas the remaining 15% (120 million euros) has to be provided by Montenegro.

Capital budget for 2015 provided 206 million euros for highway Bar-Boljare. This  projection was made based on the fact that the Montenegrin government has to pay 161.15 million euros for two contract-defined installments of the advance. Preliminary works on the highway are expecting to begin in April.

Sorce: www.balkaneu.com/