Overview of best prospect sectors, major infrastructure projects, significant government procurements and business opportunities.
Last Published: 7/26/2019

Tourism

Montenegro’s 300 kilometers-long coastline and the spectacular mountainous north is the engine of tourism sector which accounts for close to 25 percent of GDP.  The sale of formerly state-owned land has triggered a wave of foreign investment in large-scale tourism and hospitality centers.
Infrastructure.

Montenegro is planning major upgrades to its airports, road and rail networks.  In 2014, the Government of Montenegro selected the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to construct a 41-kilometer section of the national highway; this section will connect Podgorica with the north of the country and ultimately with the Serbian border.  Its construction will cost around USD 1.1 billion. This section of the Bar-Boljare highway is one of five projects the government is planning to tender in the next few years.  In addition, the Government of Montenegro plans to develop the Adriatic-Ionian Highway (the so-called “East-West” Corridor), which will include approximately 105 kilometers of highway connecting Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania.

Energy

The Government of Montenegro (GoM) is building an underwater electric transmission cable to Italy which will start to export renewable energy to Western Europe during 2019.  Additionally, there are several ongoing energy projects around the country, including refurbishing of the first block of the thermal plant in Pljevlja, a feasibility study for construction of the second block in Pljevlja, a 200 MW solar plant in Ulcinj, new wind farms, and a number of hydro projects.  In late 2013, Montenegro invited international oil and gas companies to bid on licenses to explore offshore oil and gas, based on seismic data that showed favorable conditions for hydrocarbon deposits off Montenegro’s deep-water coast.  The GoM has signed concession agreements with two consortia: the Italian-Russian consortium Eni/Novatek for four blocks and the Greek-British consortium Energean oil/Mediterranean oil & gas for one block It is expected that the exploration will start this year, and several more licensing rounds are foreseen by 2020 for additional exploration blocks.
 

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