Tourism
Montenegro’s 300 kilometers-long coastline and the spectacular mountainous north are the engine of the tourism sector which accounts for close to 25 percent of GDP. The sale of formerly state-owned land has triggered a wave of foreign investment in large-scale tourism and hospitality centers.
Infrastructure
Montenegro is planning major upgrades to its airports, road and rail networks. In 2014, the Government of Montenegro selected the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to construct a 41-kilometer section of the national highway; this section will connect Podgorica with the north of the country and ultimately with the Serbian border. Its construction will cost around USD 1.1 billion. This section of the Bar-Boljare highway is one of five projects the government is planning to tender in the next few years. In addition, the Government of Montenegro (GoM) plans to develop the Adriatic-Ionian Highway (the so-called “East-West” Corridor), which will include approximately 105 kilometers of highway connecting Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania.
Energy
The GoM began operation of the undersea electric transmission cable from Lastva, Montenegro, to Italy in December 2019. Additionally, there are several ongoing renewable and fossil fuel energy projects around the country, including an ecological reconstruction of the existing block of the coal-fired thermal plant in Pljevlja; development of a 170 MW hydropower plant on the Komarnica River, and construction of a 200 MW solar power plant in Ulcinj. In late 2013, Montenegro invited international oil and gas companies to bid on licenses to explore and develop offshore oil and gas blocks, based on seismic data that showed favorable conditions for hydrocarbon deposits off Montenegro’s deep-water coast. The GoM has signed concession agreements with two consortia: the Italian-Russian consortium Eni/Novatek for four blocks and the Greek-British consortium Energean oil/Mediterranean oil & gas for one block. It is expected that drilling will start this year.
