Republic of Montenegro: Public Expenditure and ... - Vlada Crne Gore

Annex 4 99
ANNEX 4. MONTENEGRO’S TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK, AND REGULATORY AND
Road Infrastructure
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
A. Transport Infrastructure Network
Montenegro’s state road infrastructure extends for 6,848 km, out of which 964km are
regional roads and 884 km are highways (magistral) (Table A4.1). The total network also
contains 312 bridges, 136 tunnels, and about 5000 km of local roads. Half of the local roads are
unpaved and are managed by the 21 municipalities. There are currently around 100,000
registered vehicles in Montenegro out of which 89 percent are private passenger vehicles.
The mountainous nature of the terrain, coupled with the maintenance backlog during the
last decades, results in higher costs for road users, creates a contingent liability and reduces
Montenegro’s comparative advantages against other transit corridors. The physical
characteristics of most of the regional roads (steep slopes, absence of shoulders, tight curves, low
radii, relatively high pavement degradation) results in an average speed of less than 50
kilometers per hour. Furthermore, there are no routes through the country designated as part of
the Trans-European Network (TEN) corridors, but some of the main routes are part of the South
East Europe Transport Observatory (SEETO) defined regional ‘core’ network. Support from the
EU funding agencies, notably the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR), has been targeted
at emergency repairs. Without adequate maintenance, roads deteriorate at an increasing rate until
reconstruction is necessary, at considerably greater expense than any short term saving in
maintenance expenditure 79 , creating a contingent liability. In addition, failure to maintain a
paved road is estimated to increases user costs by a factor of three, in terms of additional time,
fuel, and vehicular wear and tear.
Table A4.1: Road Network in the Republic of Montenegro by Category and Class
Category/Class European Highway
Regional
Total
(Magistral) (Provincial)
Primary 20 593 613
Secondary 53 129 144 326
Tertiary 88 820 908
Total 73 811 964 1848
Source: Department of Roads and Railway Infrastructure (DRRI), 2004.
79 Heggie and Vickers (1998). report that rehabilitating a paved road is 3 times more expensive than maintaining it,
in current terms, and around 35% more in net present value terms.