Mašić: The goal is a more modern and better quality road infrastructure

With the program of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and protection of main and regional roads for this year, which foresees about 70 projects worth over 71 million euros, Montenegro will get a more modern and better road infrastructure.

Acting Director General of the Directorate for State Roads in the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Miroslav Mašić, said that the Program envisages about 70 or so projects that are planned to begin implementation this year, together with those projects whose implementation is already underway.

"The estimated amount for these activities is slightly more than 71 million euros and the program is divided into three subprograms. The first subprogram is the reconstruction of main and regional roads. There are ongoing projects, and among the most significant is the Rožaje-Špiljani project, whose completion is expected in the first half of this year," Mašić told the Mina-business agency.

He also mentioned the Lubnica-Jezerine project, which has already been put into trial operation and the final completion is expected by the end of June.

"In the central part we have the Cetinje-Čevo road. Then the connection between the road Cetinje-Čevo and the road to Krstac. We have Bajicka Street in Cetinje. We have Tivat-Jaz on the coast, one of the larger projects whose implementation is underway", said Mašić.

He stated that the realization of some projects will continue in the next year, such as Tivat-Jaz and Lepenac-Ribarevine-Berane.

"In addition to those ongoing projects, the program also includes projects that are expected to start this year, which will depend on several factors. First of all, we have the issue of expropriation, public procurement, cancellation of tender procedures, but the plan is to call for public invitations for as many of these projects as possible and to select a contractor for as many projects as possible so that they start to be implemented this year," announced Mašić.

Some of the most significant are the reconstruction of the road from Bijelo Polje to the border with Serbia, the reconstruction of Most-Zeleni-Vuča in the territory of the municipality of Rožaje, the beginning of the project to build the road from the Veruša interchange to the Lopata settlement, which should connect the highway with the Veruša settlement, then the continuation sections from Čevo to Nikšić, the boulevard through Tivat, the boulevard from Sutumor to Bar, as well as the western bypass around Podgorica.

"In addition to the reconstruction and construction of roads, the program also includes the field of road safety. So this year, it is planned that the Traffic Administration will continue with the good practice it had in the past years in improving the road infrastructure from the aspect of safety", said Mašić.

He reminded that during the last year they started school zone projects for 25 schools located along state roads, for 15 schools work is in progress, and for ten schools the main project is being completed.

"We have an ongoing project to improve potential 13 locations of black spots, where project documentation is nearing completion and work should begin this year," added Mašić.

As he said, the Traffic Administration conducted a public call last year for the preparation of a road safety check study, with a network length of about 200 kilometers. After the preparation of that study, the preparation of project documentation and the improvement of those roads from the aspect of safety will be started.

"The plan is to continue this good practice this year, in order to bring that segment of road infrastructure to a better level, of course bearing in mind that it is not only the road that can be the cause and can affect the consequences of traffic accidents, but it is within the competence of the Ministry and the Traffic Administration are working in this field with the aim of increasing road traffic safety", announced Mašić.

All those projects contained in the program, as he said, aim at better connectivity of Montenegro, smoother and safer traffic, better road connectivity and accessibility of Montenegro as a tourist destination.

"We believe that through the completion of ongoing projects and the beginning of these planned projects, Montenegro will get a more modern and high-quality road infrastructure," added Mašić.

The program, as he reminded, did not treat highways and expressways, which is the responsibility of Monteput.

"The government is firmly determined to begin the implementation of a large number of highway and expressway projects. So far, a public call for the development of four conceptual solutions has already been announced. The first conceptual solution is a variant of crossing the Bay of Kotor for a high-speed road along the Montenegrin coast. Then, the conceptual solution from Podgorica to Bar, the intersection of the Adriatic-Ionian and the Bar-Boljara highway", said Mašić.

Then, the conceptual design of the highway branch from Andrijevica to Peć, i.e. the border with Kosovo, and the conceptual design for the high-speed highway Crnča-Pljevlja-border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Also, the preliminary design for the next Mateševo-Andrijevica section has been announced, the opening of which is expected these days, and we expect that we will get quality designers for all these projects who will deliver technical documentation within the contractual period so that they can enter the next step, i.e. next year in consideration of concluding a contract for the execution of works on those sections", said Mašić.

As he said, the preparation of the tender for the contractor for the Mateševo-Andrijevica section is underway, which is being done according to the rules of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

"The pre-qualification tender is being prepared with the plan to publish a public invitation around August, in order to have a selected contractor by the end of the year and by the end of the year or the beginning of the next year, in order to obtain the conditions for the start of work on that section. The tender is designed so that the future contractor, when he completes the main project, will perform the works. But we expect that the preparatory works will start at the end of this year, that is, at the beginning of the national year, with a deadline of five years for completion", specified Mašić.

He said that he expects those tenders to be successful.

"Of course, any appeal delays the tender procedure. We already have a case in some tenders with the preparation of technical documentation, so that is something we cannot manage", added Mašić.

For Mateševo-Andrijevica, as he reminded, they certainly received a grant from the European Commission in the amount of 200 million and more.

"Also, we will receive 200 million favorable loans from the EBRD. So that share will be favorable from the aspect of the fiscal burden of the state of Montenegro", said Mašić.

He said that it is their intention to do the next shares in cooperation with the EC through various available funds.

"The effort of this government and the state is what has been presented in terms of the development of the basic network, the main network of road infrastructure with the deadlines that have been set, the readiness of the government exists in terms of providing financial resources, so we believe that the majority of these projects will start, which will be completed in that medium-term period until 2030", Mašić concluded.