Skip to main content

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

  • Highway work starting in Czech Republic
    February 29, 2012
    Upgrade work to five sections of the D1 highway in the Czech Republic is due to commence in spring 2012.
  • Nicaragua road project funding deal
    February 1, 2018
    Nicaragua’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) is setting out its road development programme for 2018. In all the plans call for the construction of 171km of roads. Work will be completed for the road from Mulukuku to Siuna, with the first 23km stretch due to open in September 2018 and the remaining 21.5km expected in December 2018. Meanwhile the road from Nueva Guinea to San Francisco should be complete by November 2018. Work started on these two routes in 2016. The project also calls for
  • Russian bypass projects under construction
    October 5, 2018
    The Russian government is starting a major programme of building bypasses around large cities during the current financial year – Eugene Gerden writes The Russian government is starting a massive programme of building bypasses around the country’s biggest cities during this financial year. The aim is to address the problems of traffic jams and speeding traffic on federal routes, according to recent statements by the Russian Presidential Administration and some senior officials from the Ministry of Trans
  • Slovakian highway contract awarded
    February 17, 2021
    Key Slovakian highway contract awarded to Skanska