Among the many Chinese-funded projects in Montenegro, one has become particularly symbolic: the construction of a 160-kilometre highway to link the port city of Bar to neighboring Serbia.
As in several European countries, China is increasingly present in Montenegro, a Balkan country of 620,000 inhabitants. Chinese state-owned companies are investing there in particular in infrastructure projects.
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A project is particularly talked about in this state which saw a young anti-corruption party win the legislative elections on Sunday June 11: a 160-kilometer highway, which should link Bar, a port city on the shores of the Adriatic Sea to Serbia, a neighboring country northeast of Montenegro. A construction that has become symbolic of the development in Europe of the “silk roads”, the life project for the Chinese president Xi Jinping.
20 million euros per kilometer
After many delays, the first 41 kilometers of this highway were opened to traffic in summer 2022: three lanes of traffic, multiple bridges and tunnels that cross imposing mountains, to reach an exorbitant price: more than a billion euros, or more than 20 million euros per kilometre. A sizeable investment, financed by the Chinese public bank China Exim Bank, the only establishment that agreed to finance this project with a loan of 800 million euros. Thus, this highway now accounts for more than 20% of Montenegro’s external debt. And many are worried about the counterparties that could be demanded by Beijing.
“A very small part of the documents related to this project have been made public, and that is why the question remains open: of these 20 million euros per kilometer, what is the share of corruption?”, wonders Dejan Milovac, one of the leaders of the non-governmental organization (NGO) MANS, which has never ceased to denounce the corruption scandals linked to this highway, today one of the most expensive in the world.
Two threatened natural parks
The motorway project is also controversial because it threatens two national parks in the country, and in particular the famous Tara canyon, the deepest in Europe. This natural jewel of Montenegro has been listed as a UNESCO heritage site since 1977. “Since 2015 and until today, the Tara has been devastated in many places over nearly seven kilometers, observes environmental activist Natasa Kovacevic. On the banks of the river, one can see huge deposits of waste related to the construction site that look like mountains 20 meters high. And these dumps, Chinese investors, like our government, have no intention of removing them.”
This rather contrasting assessment did not prevent the Montenegrin authorities from signing a new contract in March 2023 with a Chinese company, for the construction of another highway, this time along the coast.