There is no announced asphalt for the second section of the highway, but even without it, the price is rising significantly.
The original estimate of less than 300 million long ago was overtaken by inflation, the rise in the prices of materials and services, so we will pay 23 million euros for 650 and a half kilometers, according to the latest estimate.
This means that a kilometer will cost us over 27 million, and we paid less for the kilometer of the first, longer section of the highway.
The Mateševo-Andrijevica section, 23,5 km long, which makes up 14 percent of the total highway route, will cost us 650 million, more than double the original estimate from July 2019 during the Duško Marković government.
Monteput told Televizija Vijesti that the initial estimate of 295 million was actually made much earlier based on the Conceptual Solution, a decade and a half ago and did not include VAT. They state that they determined the current, doubled price after working out the project in detail.
Although it is quite clear that due to all of the above, the price of the second share had to increase in a few years, the question is how did it increase by 150 million in eight months?
When he announced in March that it would be financed from a loan of 200 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a grant from the European Union (EU) of 40 percent, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić presented an estimate for the second part...
"If the project is somewhere around 500 million, as we had planned with the preliminary project, then the grant would amount to 200 million, if it were 600, then the grant would amount to 240 million euros," said Spajić at the time.
And only during the presentation of the budget for 2025 did it become known that it will cost us 650 million. The Prime Minister told the journalists that this is precisely the assessment of the European Bank.
Monteputo explains that from March to November the price jumped from 500 to 650 million for a section for which we do not yet have a master project.
A total of 42 kilometers of the first section of the highway from Smokovac to Mateševo cost us over one billion euros with additional costs, and the contracted price was 809,6 million. According to her, we paid less than 20 million per kilometer, which at the time caused enormous criticism in the public. If we take the final price, it turns out that we paid less than 24 million per kilometer.
And, a kilometer of other, shorter sections at the current price will cost us 27 million and 650 thousand euros.
According to the budget proposal for the next year, 100,2 million euros are planned for the second section of the highway. This will cover the start of the works after signing the contract with the company that will be selected in the tender. Eight companies from China, Turkey and Azerbaijan applied, including the Chinese company CRBC, which built the first section.
And, when it comes to that, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) is once again determining whether the former Minister of Transport, Ivan Brajović, violated the regulations in the case of contracting and building the forgotten loop, which, according to the state's claims, damaged the citizens' coffers by 300 million euros.
DON'T MISS IT
Bonus video:
