Financial setbacks beset Slovakia’s highway development

Slovakian highway company NDS says that construction of the 13km Turany-Hubova highway may not be started in 2012. The previous Transport Ministry plan was to call the tender for this stretch in summer 2012. However, the EC has not yet approved the construction of this highway, with questions surrounding the protected area in the Velka and Mala Fatra mountains. If Slovakia does not get this approval, the country might have to chose the second option, which includes the tunnel Korbelka. The EC's decision is
June 12, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Slovakian highway company NDS says that construction of the 13km Turany-Hubova highway may not be started in 2012.

The previous Transport Ministry plan was to call the tender for this stretch in summer 2012. However, the EC has not yet approved the construction of this highway, with questions surrounding the protected area in the Velka and Mala Fatra mountains. If Slovakia does not get this approval, the country might have to chose the second option, which includes the tunnel Korbelka. The EC's decision is expected to be made by late 2012 or early 2013. Meanwhile work on the Visnove tunnel project depends on a loan from the 1054 European Investment Bank (EIB), as Slovakia does not have the money required. Should the EIB approve a loan, construction of the section of the D1 highway with the Visnove tunnel could start in 2012. The Transport Ministry has said that funding from the EIB could be used as a bridging loan because the ministry's current plans are for using EU funds only in the 2014-2020 budgetary period.

The value of the project is €900 million. The sum provided by the EIB will depend on the Transport Ministry's updated highway construction strategy. And should the Turany-Hubova section of the D1 motorway is built as a public-private partnership, the EIB and the 1166 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) may participate. This would require all problems with environment protection to be solved for funding to be approved. At this stage it not possible to say when the whole D1 highway will be completed but it could be in 2018-2019 or even later.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Slovakia: D4/R7 Bratislava bypass work to start early this year
    January 10, 2017
    Construction will start early this year on 59km of highway as part of the D4/R7 bypass of the Slovakian capital Bratislava. Ferrovial through its subsidiaries Cintra Infraestructuras and Ferrovial Agroman is leading the consortium on the public-private partnerships deal worth around €1.9 billion, according to media reports. Ferrovial reached financial close on the project in June, noting that their investment would be around €975 million. The first stage of the design, build, financing, operate and ma
    Read More
  • Loan to fund Serbian road rebuilding
    September 8, 2014
    Serbia’s Ministry of Construction has plans to rebuild and upgrade some 1,000km of roads between 2014 and 2018. The work is expected to cost €300 million. Serbia’s Government is looking to the EU for the ratification of a previously discussed loan worth €300 million. This loan has been approved by the World Bank, the EBRD and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The money will be used to fund road rebuilding work, with one of the first projects to tackle being the improvement of the Zrenjanin-Zabalj route.
    Read More
  • Russia’s most expensive road project to commence
    January 15, 2019
    Construction work is being planned for Russia’s most expensive road, which will be built in south of the country – Eugene Gerden reports Work is due to commence shortly on Russia’s most expensive road, in the south of the country. The highway will form part of the existing 1,600km Moscow-Sochi road, according to recent statements from senior officials at the Russian Ministry of Transport as well as local analysts. As part of the project, the Russian Government, together with private investors, plans to
    Read More
  • Slovakia highway tunnel project – tendering to restart
    June 5, 2019
    The tender process will restart in 2019 for Slovakia’s Visnové Tunnel project. The tunnel forms part of the D1 highway. Work was being carried out on the tunnel and highway stretch of the D1 connecting Lietavska, Lucka, Visnové and Dubna Skala by the contractors Salini Impregilo and Duha. However following a dispute with the Slovak national motorway company NDS, these two firms are no longer working on the project. Some stretches of the highway are near complete already but the tunnel still requires some wo
    Read More

Highlighted Content