Public Investment Council holds its third session: Over 30 new projects to be included in the 2025 Capital Budget Proposal

The third session of the Public Investment Council was held, chaired by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, with the participation of relevant ministers and key institutions involved in the implementation of capital projects.

The Council reviewed several current issues, with a special focus on assessing the submitted requests for the inclusion of new capital projects in the 2025 Montenegro Budget Law proposal, in accordance with the Decision on the Capital Budget preparation. The Ministry of Finance has prepared a proposal that includes only "mature capital projects"-those with resolved expropriation and completed main project designs-from the "List of priority capital projects," which were evaluated by the Commission based on established criteria. Additionally, a "List of projects of exceptional national importance" was identified, emphasising the development of main projects for the Adriatic-Ionian Highway and fast roads, the construction of the University Clinical Centre, and other capital projects that have a significant impact on the economic development of municipalities in the northern region.

To fulfill the final benchmarks for negotiating chapter 21 - Trans-European networks and to meet the obligations under Final Benchmark 2, the Council tasked the relevant ministries to promptly submit an updated unified List of priority infrastructure projects for the transport and energy sectors to the Government of Montenegro, using the Methodology for selecting and prioritizing infrastructure projects.

The Council also reviewed the Information on the implementation of road infrastructure projects, particularly the activities carried out by Monteput in preparing project documentation for the priority highway section from Mateševo to Andrijevica, as well as other sections and sub-sections, and other fast roads under intensive work according to the planned activities outlined in the Fiscal Strategy for the period 2024-2027.

The Council was briefed on the Report on the execution of the Capital Budget for the third quarter of 2024, prepared by the Ministry of Finance, which shows a spending of around 111 million euros (47% of the total allocated amount) in the first nine months, 14 million more than in the same period last year.

The Council adopted the Report on its activities to date, which, in accordance with the Decision on the establishment of the Public Investment Council, will be forwarded to the Government for further consideration.