SLOVAKIA will not complete a motorway linking Bratislava and Žilina by November 2006, as it undertook to do according to an investment contract with the carmaker Kia Motors, Transportation Minister Pavol Prokopovič said on September 12.
Prokopovič told reporters that the Sverepec-Považská Bystrica-Vrtižer stretch (Trenčín region) would not be completed until the summer of 2007, the TASR news wire reported.
"The delay is because of a delay in planning permission, which was belatedly issued by the Považská Bystrica town council in May of this year, one year later than originally planned. Although we managed to cut preparatory work from a year to eight months, this time loss cannot be made up," said Prokopovič.
Construction of this stretch is expected to begin in January 2006. Other stretches should be completed on time.
