A Chinese state-owned company blacklisted by the United States is among the bidders competing to build the second section of Montenegro’s flagship north–south highway.
Montenegro’s government said one Chinese company and three consortiums – two Chinese and one Turkish-Azerbaijani – have submitted offers for the 23-kilometre stretch from Mateševo to Andrijevica. Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year and take five years to complete.
Among the bidders is China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), placed on the U.S. Commerce Department’s blacklist in 2020 over alleged links to China’s military. CCCC and its subsidiaries had previously been barred by the World Bank until 2016 for fraudulent practices tied to a road project in the Philippines.
The €600 million project will be financed by €150 million in EU grants, €250 million from Montenegro’s budget and €200 million in loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
CCCC has built major infrastructure across the Balkans, including the first section of Montenegro’s Bar–Boljare highway, a project plagued by delays, cost overruns and criticism over lack of transparency. Montenegro took out a large loan from China’s Exim Bank for that section and later required EU-assisted refinancing to reduce currency-related risks.
Other bidders include the Shandong Foreign Economic & Technical Cooperation – Shandong Luqiao Group consortium, which has faced delays on road projects in Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia, some of them awarded without public tender through state-to-state deals.
A third contender is the Cengiz–AzVirt consortium, made up of Turkey’s Cengiz Holding and Azerbaijan’s AzVirt, both active across the Western Balkans. Cengiz has built multiple motorway sections in Bosnia and Croatia, while AzVirt has been involved in projects in Serbia and Bosnia but has also faced contract-violation blacklisting.
Chinese state-owned PowerChina, active in large energy and transport projects across the region, has also been involved in Balkan infrastructure but has no signed contracts in Montenegro to date.
Montenegro’s highway project has long drawn scrutiny from the EU and international lenders due to its financing risks, governance issues and the heavy presence of Chinese state-owned firms in the region.