China supports many countries in the development of their roads, railways and ports. Montenegro pays a high price for it
- 18.02.2020
The entrance to the construction workers’ camp is a gate like those usually found at buddhist temples. blue and somehow strange it stands in the mountain landscape of montenegro. On the area behind, white container buildings with blue roofs are lined up one after the other. What looks like a modern refugee camp is for many years the home of a good 3.000 workers brought to montenegro by china. They are supposed to build the bar-boljare highway, a gigantic infrastructure project that is supposed to bring prosperity to the balkan state.
Highway to hell?
The country is slightly smaller than schleswig-holstein, has about 620.000 inhabitants and is one of the poorest states in europe. For a long time, people have dreamed of a highway that would cut through the mountainous countryside and connect the coast with neighboring serbia. If you want to travel by car from the north to the capital podgorica, just under 100 kilometers away, it takes about five hours to make the journey. More than 500 people have already died on the road, which runs in sharp curves.
When a state-owned Chinese bank offered to finance the construction in 2008, they didn’t hesitate for long. An infrastructurally urgent project, said the Montenegrin government. the freeway will not only allow goods to be transported, it will also bring tourism and attract investors for other economic projects.
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Milka tadic mijovic (54), journalist and founder of the center for investigative journalism montenegro:
If we can not repay the loan of the chinese, they have the right to take everything except diplomatic property in montenegro. The deal has increased our foreign debt by 30 percent. It was already high before. But now it is far above the limit that we are allowed to reach according to the maastricht treaty if we want to become a member of the eu.
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Miloš konatar (37), former member of parliament for the opposition party URA:
The freeway is the largest construction project in the modern history of montenegro. On the whole, all Montenegrins are in favor of it. But the question is: who pays for it and from what?? our national debt was 700 million in 2006, now it is 3.4 billion dollars. We members of parliament have never seen the contract with the chinese; it is guarded like a state secret. We have demanded that all information be made available to us. But the government has refused.
China’s exim bank lends money to many countries for infrastructure projects – preferentially to those that have none of their own. China is pursuing its belt-and-road initiative, a network of roads, railways and sea links that will make it possible to transport Chinese goods all over the world.
Made in montenegro: about 3.000 workers came all the way from china to build the bar-boljare highway.
In this camp, in the middle of the mountains, the guest workers live for several years.
Montenegro is one of the poorest countries in europe, dilapidated houses are not a rare sight. Under highway bridges ..
… or also in podgorica, the capital of montenegro. The highway is supposed to connect the city with neighboring serbia.
Montenegro’s prime minister duško markovic celebrates the 70th anniversary of the people’s republic with chinese ambassador liu jin.
Critics of the highway complain about the lack of transparency in the agreement between the two countries. At least in the case of the Chinese-Montenegrin cake, there is no question that both will get the same amount.
Chinese workers at the construction site near podgorica: china wants to help the balkan state not only with a loan, but also with its own expertise.
From china, roads lead through kazakhstan, russia, ukraine and the balkans to central europe. Another route covers a distance of 11 kilometers.000 kilometers via belarus and poland to duisburg – the end point so far. For china, the port there is an important logistic point. 35 chinese trains now arrive there every week.
Because duisburg is economically independent of china, the city benefits from the "new silk road," as the belt-and-road initiative is also called. It is different in montenegro. The loan has greatly increased the country’s debt, which could jeopardize its planned accession to the EU. If Montenegro is unable to repay its debts, the port of Bar could suffer the same fate as sri lanka’s largest port: China forgave part of the country’s debts in exchange for a 99-year "lease agreement". In kyrgyzstan, where china implemented road projects, debt to exim bank rose from nine million to 1.7 billion dollars. China now holds 42 percent of kyrgyzstan’s foreign debt.
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Liu jin, china’s ambassador to montenegro:
i don’t understand why there is so much criticism. We are helping montenegro to make economic progress. It gets from us not only a loan, but also our expertise to build this highway in difficult terrain. It will give the country an economic boost, with the income from it the country can pay back the loan. We have worked it all out with the Montenegrin government. We take great responsibility in the world.
the most expensive highway in europe is being built here
the government’s promise that the expensive highway project will bring prosperity for all fades at the latest when you drive a few kilometers away from the planned route and enter the mountain villages on poorly paved and narrow roads. The houses are abandoned, there are no stores, no school, little life. there is no sign of the tourism boom that montenegro has experienced in recent years, especially on its coastline.
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Kojo lakušic (67), farmer in the village of lijeva rijeka:
I have 127 euro pension from my time as a factory worker. We grow everything we need ourselves, we keep pigs, cows and chickens. Sometimes our children come and bring us things we can’t pay for, especially medicines. On the radio they said that the highway will benefit everyone, even those who live in the villages like us. It would bring tourism. But our village is far away from a bad road. They would have to rehabilitate it, but that will not happen. If we are lucky, electricity will come to our village with the new highway.
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Slobodan vešovic (62), restaurant owner in the village of veruš:
I am for the highway. We all know how beautiful montenegro is, but without a decent road, all that beauty is wasted. I have a trout farm, and since word got out in the chinese camp, the chinese come every weekend to buy fresh fish. Not the ordinary workers, they always stay in the camp. They have everything they need there, they are completely self-sufficient. For me it is good that the chinese are here. But there I am the exception: ordinary people do not benefit from them, only the entrepreneurs related or friendly with the government.
In september, the first 43 of the 163 planned kilometers of highway will be completed. So far, it is unclear how Montenegro intends to finance the two further construction phases. When the route is finished, 1.000 meters of altitude difference, 40 bridges and 90 tunnels will be built. At a cost of 25 million euros per kilometer, this will be the most expensive highway in europe.
Both the european union and the world Bank see too great a discrepancy between costs and economic benefits, and they do not want to participate in the financing. Moreover, domestic and foreign economic experts have calculated that repayment of the first loan, which is to be made starting this year, is hardly possible. So far, the only interested party for the second construction phase is the chinese exim bank.
This text is published under the license CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0-DE. The photos may not be used.