Montenegro has moved the 23-kilometre Mateševo–Andrijevica section of the Bar–Boljare motorway into construction after signing its construction contract in February 2026, the Government of Montenegro said. The financing package comprises a 200 million euros loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a 150 million euros European Union (EU) grant and an unspecified amount of state budget funding.
The 350 million euros EU-EBRD package covers the loan and grant, with budget funding additional. Construction and supervision contracts were awarded under EBRD procurement procedures.
Running between Mateševo and Andrijevica, the section extends the motorway northward and supports the longer-term goal of improving the corridor toward Serbia. Better road links could reduce logistics costs, strengthen tourism connections and improve the investment case for northern Montenegro, where unemployment remains far above levels in the coastal and central regions.
Montenegro’s capacity to prepare and execute complex infrastructure projects remains a constraint on converting financing into completed assets. Work on the Bar–Vrbnica railway has progressed slowly, while design documentation for another Bar–Boljare motorway section has been pending for an extended period despite secured EU funding.
Project preparation, procurement, supervision and fiscal discipline will affect how much financing the country can turn into productive infrastructure. Access to EU grants, EBRD loans and accession-related funding could support a substantially larger capital programme. The motorway is one of Montenegro’s largest current infrastructure commitments and tests whether European financing can reduce regional inequality and improve competitiveness without recreating debt and execution risks associated historically with large infrastructure programmes.
