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Fico Praises Pace of Motorway Construction
Tuesday 16 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - The current Cabinet is building motorways and fast roads three or four times more quickly than was the case under the previous Government led by Mikulas Dzurinda, Prime Minister Robert Fico said after carrying out an inspection at the Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry on Tuesday.
By the end of this Government's term in June 2010, a total of 140 kilometres of motorways and fast roads will have been completed, which is well above the planned 100 kilometres, said Fico. Another 40 kilometres should be completed by the end of this year.
"Another 250 kilometres of motorways and fast roads will have been built by the end of 2014," said Fico, stressing the need for motorway projects as Slovakia lacks this kind of road infrastructure.
A total of 100 of the aforementioned 250 kilometres should be built via investments coming from public resources and EU funds. This is the case with the D1 and D3 motorways, for instance, as well as the R1 express road. The remainder - amounting to 150 kilometres - are expected to be built via public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
The premier expressed his satisfaction with motorway construction via PPP projects. However, he chastised Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Lubomir Vazny for what he described as insufficient action to deal with the woes plaguing rail transport in Slovakia.
"The railways have been overlooked. Our priority must be to divert freight transport to railways," said Fico.
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