Are the Chinese building a highway in Montenegro?

Tetë kompani aplikuan për tenderin për vazhdimin e ndërtimit të autostradës malazeze – ndër to edhe kompania kineze CRBC. Por ka dhe kompani të tjera nga jashtë.

2024-10-19 21:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The government in Podgorica says that the tender is conducted according to the rules of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which will partially finance the project. "The CCC company, the umbrella company or as it is called the parent company CRBC, applied for the tender. But who will be chosen depends on whether they have met the requirements. It is possible that the right to build the second section of the highway will be given again to CRBC- of Chinese", said Minister of Transport Maja Vuki?evi?. At the same time, she emphasizes that the state company "Monteput" has announced a tender for the contractor before it was chosen in July of this year, when the parties of the former Democratic Front entered the Montenegrin government.

Deputies of the pro-Serbian alliance openly favor Chinese companies in the media. Recently, speaking about investments from China in Montenegro, the deputy of the Serbian New Democracy, Dejan Gjurovi?, said that "potential Chinese investors for the second part of the highway can get the job, because they have proven themselves to be correct contractors ".

In 2014, Mali i Zili concluded a contract with the Chinese company CRBC for the construction of the first section of the Bar-Boljara road and received a loan of 944 million dollars from the Chinese Exim Bank. That loan was taken by the former Montenegrin government, with President Milo Djukanovic at the helm, despite criticism over high debt, non-transparency of the tender process, potential corruption and the risk that the Chinese would appropriate state property as collateral.

The first section of the highway opened to traffic in 2022, after several delays and increased construction costs. In a report published in early October by the American non-governmental organization, the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the Montenegrin non-governmental organization MANS, which participated in its development, it is said that China exerts its influence on Montenegro mainly through the economy. channels, "often using corruption among political elites".

Are the Chinese building a highway in Montenegro?

Do the Chinese meet European standards?

The company "Monteput" claims that the strict criteria of the EU eliminate any possibility of favoring certain companies, namely the legal and financial ability of the bidder, proven experience in similar projects, as well as compliance with international standards of environmental protection, standards social, health and safety standards.

Asked if the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will have "special" requirements due to China's increasingly strong economic influence in the Balkan countries, the director of "Monteput" Milan Ljiljanic says that the EBRD has clearly defined criteria that must be respected.

"The previous experience with the CRBC company has been positive. Let the best company win the tenders for future constructions", says Ljiljaniq.

However, even though two years have passed since the completion of construction and the official opening of the Podgorica-Mateševë highway, the dispute between CRBC and the state of Montenegro as an investor has not yet been resolved as to who is to blame for the three-year delays and who should pay them. fines. And they can reach fifty million euros for one year of delay. The final decision in that dispute must be made by the Court of Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce in Zurich.

Are the Chinese building a highway in Montenegro?

Official of the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Montenegro, Stefan Qulafiq, believes that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will not cause a problem if Chinese companies are trusted again. performance of works.

"Chinese contractors are favored by financing available through state-owned banks such as Exim Bank, Bank of China and China Development Bank. Previous examples include the construction of a section of the highway between Warsaw and Lodz in Poland in 2009, the Pelješac Bridge construction project in "Croatia, as well as a part of the Hungarian railway infrastructure on a part of the railway show that constructions by Chinese companies are becoming more and more active in the difficult EU market", he emphasizes.

New roads by 2030?

The Mateshevë-Andrijevice section is about 22 kilometers long, which is close to 14 percent of the total road of the Bar-Boljare highway. The EBRD announced that the construction costs of the second section will reach around 530 million euros and has already secured a loan of 200 million euros.

The director of "Monteput" Milan Ljiljaniq says that the signing of the contract for design and construction is planned for the first half of 2025, while the completion of the works is expected in 2030.

The oppositionist Stefan Qulafiq considers that it is not realistic that the works will start in the first half of next year and he sees the reasons for the postponement of the deadlines in geodetic works and expropriations, and in parallel, he says, there may be other problems./ DW