Slovak News Back to the news
Financial Conclusion of D1 Highway Construction Officially Postponed
Thursday 10 June 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, June 10 (TASR) - The financial conclusion of the D1 highway construction via the public-private-partnership (PPP) project, originally scheduled for June 11, has been postponed to June 30, Transport Ministry spokesman Stanislav Jurikovic told TASR on Thursday.
The whole process has been slowed down by negotiations with the European Commission over environmental issues. Environmentalists along with some scientists claim that the highway construction will damage a rare peatbog located at the north of the country. "We have no choice but to postpone the time limit by 19 days, as the European Commision has not issued an official statement yet. The (Transport) ministry stands ready to hold a discussion at an expert level at any time," said Jurikovic.
The financial conclusion of the project has been postponed four times already - at first from early to late April, then to May 28, June 11 and finally, to June 30, 2010. The European Bank For Reconstruction and Development (EBOR) stands ready to invest €250 million into the €4-billion project. After European Commission approval, another €1 billion will come from the European Investment Bank, in turn to be followed by a number of commercial banks. Slovak taxpayers will pay more than €9 billion to the concessioner over the next 30 years not only for the construction works but also for maintenance of the highway.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
