European Investment Bank (EIB) lending to motorway projects in Slovenia reached EUR 550 million, following a new loan of EUR 160 million to DARS (Druzba za avtoceste v Republiki Sloveniji), the state motorway company. The EIB funds will help finance the last section on European E 70 motorway between Ljubljana and the port town of Koper on the Adriatic coast.
The Slovene National Motorway Construction Programme foresees the completion of the 'Motorway Cross', which will connect the country's four corners with one North-South and one East-West corridor, with a hub in the capital Ljubljana. These are Priority Corridors V and X of the Trans-European Network for Central and Eastern Europe.
Before independence, the EIB helped finance sections of the Trans-Yugoslav Railways and Highways in Slovenia, including the Karawanken Tunnel to Austria. Since independence, the EIB has financed the modernisation of railways and the introduction of a mobile telephone network, in addition to the motorways. The Bank is now extending its lending to other key sectors of the economy, in particular small and medium scale companies in industry and tourism.
Since 1990, the EIB has lent some EUR 10 billion to projects in twelve Central and Eastern European countries: Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
1 euro = 1.9553 DEM, 1.07420 USD, 0.666300 GBP, 196.013 SIT