Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
Slovakia will pay a lower annual instalment for construction and operation of the Bratislava ring road project, which includes the D4 bypass and R7 express double-carriage way. It dropped by €3.9 million to €52.8 million, the TASR newswire reported.
The total savings during the duration of the 30-year agreement with the private investor will amount to €127 million.
“We managed to make use of the financial situation on the European market in our favour, so we decreased the price of the whole project by more than €100 million,” Transport Minister Roman Brecely told the press on June 22, as quoted by TASR.
Under the original conditions, when the annual instalment was proposed at €56.72 million, the whole project was to cost €1.89 billion, when taking inflation into consideration. Following the new agreement, the final cost will be €1.76 million.
Slovakia signed the agreement on constructing the Bratislava ring road with representatives of the consortium led by Spanish company Cintra on May 20. Since then, the consortium had 12 weeks to close the project from the financial side. It did so after some four weeks, TASR wrote.
Except for the commercial banks active in Slovakia, also international banks will participate in financing the project. This includes mostly the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, according to the ministry. Of Slovak financial institutions, the Slovak Investment Holding participated in the project, TASR wrote.
The financial closure means that the construction of the stretches which have already received building permission will start soon. The works may be launched in September, the Sme daily wrote.
