The 23-kilometre Mateševo–Andrijevica section of the Bar–Boljare motorway, valued at almost €694mn, is the largest immediate test of Montenegro’s new infrastructure-financing model.
Monteput awarded the design-and-build contract to the PowerChina–Stecol–PCCD consortium following an EBRD-supervised procurement process. The financing structure combines a €200mn EBRD loan, a €150mn EU grant and national funding.
The grant and development-bank participation provide a stronger risk structure than the first Smokovac–Mateševo section, whose Chinese financing created substantial sovereign exposure. Yet the new section remains exceptionally expensive on a per-kilometre basis because of mountainous terrain, tunnels, bridges and geotechnical risk.
Its economic purpose is broader than shortening travel times. A functioning north–south corridor would improve access to Kolašin and the northern municipalities, strengthen the Port of Bar’s logistics position and reduce the coastal concentration of investment. The return depends on eventually completing enough of the corridor to generate through traffic; an isolated motorway section has more limited freight and toll value.
Construction will support GDP and employment in the near term, but imported equipment and materials may widen the trade deficit. Fiscal exposure will also rise if geological conditions create change orders beyond the contracted contingency.
