Montenegro's Road to Nowhere: The Chinese Built Highway that Nearly Bankrupted a Nation
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ย. 2023
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can you do a series entitled "Mega Cock Ups",
please do a video of the great depression. the cause, secioetal trauma, and impact on the current day.
Montenegro building roads please please please stop
Simon please please please never stop ♥️
I take that road all the time! Super cool! No traffic jams stunning views etc
hey so you know how you did the bigboy steam engine can you please do the allegheny class they are actually more powerful then the big boys please at least research them
As a montenegrian, i must clarify couple things about ourselves:
First of all, we are not the poorest country in region, however if comparing our national bptu with surrounding countries it is a smallest because of barely 650000 in total population. Comparing to Serbia 9000000, croatia 5000000 for example.
About freeway it self, it’s a part of newly constructed freeway(still not completed) belgrade-bar.
Serbian side is completed from belgrade to uzice(think this summer will be completed until preljina).
Free way will meet on boljare(boarder between serbia and mne).
Eventually once everything is completed, trip from capitals belgrade-Podgorica, will be reduced to 4 hours, instead of current good 8,9 hours trip.
Mne government decided to build most difficult part first, to avoid canyon Moraca, which unfortunately took so many lives in past 65 years, road through canyon doesn’t make forgiveness, small mistake/overlook and you are gonne.
As far as we are notified, remaining part from matesevo till andrijevica will start work on 2025. And scheduled to be completed in 3/4 years period.
Now, europe union doesn’t pay our credit back, our government replaced china’s bank with Europe bank, and it’s all done so that eu protects its own interests in this part of Europe, because Port of Bar, is strategically perfect location for Chinese to have its own private port at the door of eu.
I think, don’t claim, that Chinese wanted to build whole freeway for free in favour to have control over freeway and port of Bar in period of 30/40 years.
So even if this guy here is sarcastic about everything and a bit arrogant, he basically completely failed to do a proper research about subject that he made videos about.
The only truth in this video is that government is definitely corrupt, no matter which politician is on power, because they are all same greedy son of the b…..s.
Cheers
Ma pusti ga vidis da pod temperaturom video pravi
you're just a hater
So the EU is providing finance to Montenegro to pay off Chinese debt? That is insane.
Sounds like a Ponzi scheme
yet another reason why... China will grow larger
@@AndrewMitchell123Wrong. China’s population is declining and will go from 1.3 billion to 600 million. Ask yourself, if the US population started to decline in 1923, would it have dominated the 20th century? The answer is no. India will pass China in economy in the next 30 years. Also a majority of US, EU and Global corporations are moving manufacturing from China to countries like Vietnam. Chinese salaries have increased by 5 times and they are no longer seen as a manufacturing bargain and COVID showed how unstable the Chinese government policies can be + how Russia invaded Ukraine made companies consider, what would happen if China invaded Taiwan. They chose to relocate their manufacturing rather than find out. Also don’t call me kid. I am older than you and you look like a corny porn star from the 1970’s
It's Geopolitics, without the debt China has no foothold
Wrong China has a go out policy
That’s why it’s building a fricken bridge in Eastern Europe
China was sending its people and companies outside the country
To the point these days Ethnic Chinese and their companies dominate the economies of SE Asia and these countries are dependent on the Chinese economy these days
I stumbled upon this in the 1980s
That’s why the recent move of US companies out of China?
Where most went to SE Asia and most of those companies to Vietnam????
I already knew the joke was there was more Chinese content in Vietnamese gadgets than there was Chinese content in Chinese made gadgets
India with a larger workforce., younger workforce and lower wages?????
Had a 100 billion dollar trade deficit with China in 2022
👇
Ethnic Chinese dominate PH economy
by Solita Collas - Monsod on Jun 25, 2012
Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words. The pictures of the top 15 Filipino billionaires (in US dollars, mind you) in Friday’s issue of the Inquirer brought home with crystal clarity the domination of the Philippine economy by ethnic Chinese. This is, of course, not a unique situation, as it seems to be the case in all of Southeast Asia
econ. upd . edu . ph
I drove on it this summer. It is a masterpiece of engineering for sure. You literally go tunnel->bridge->tunnel. At almost no point the road was on solid ground. At times the heights could make you dizzy if you suffer from vertigo.
The big problem is that part that works is just a small fraction of what is needed to actually do its job properly which is to bring Serbian products and tourists to Montenegro. It's still a very long and very tiring drive from northern Serbia to Montenegro. To put it into perspective, Greek coast is almost twice as far as Montenegrin coast from northern Serbia, yet you get there quicker.
You still need a lot of highways built on the Serbian side to make it a fully functioning route and the terrain in southwestern Serbia isn't very flat at all. Not nearly as bad as Montenegro terrain, though.
Also, decades of maintenance of all those tunnels and bridges will be enormously expensive. An enormous cluster fudge, if I do say so.😮
@@J56609 Been working on maintaining bridges, and it's very expensive and very time consuming work, made even more expensive if you don't use locals. And more often then not you also have to update the bridge and road as you do the road to meet new codes and standards which gets even more crazy expensive.
Fully agree: traveling through Montenegro is taking way more time than it seems when you look on a map. However even though locals drive like crazy, I've personally felt more relaxed than when driving daily in Poland.
Maybe they did not need this whole road-construction madness in first place.
don't forget... its Chinese build... so questionable quality
Just wait until it starts to fall apart like all other Chinese projects. Whole entire deserted cities in China built in the recent decades are falling apart.
Damn! Only a billion for all that!? Here in The south shore of Montreal in Canada we have a 3.5 km bridge that cost 6 billions and took nearly 11 years to make
Honestly I am shocked that this project only cost a billion dollars. I live in California, and we have spent over 10 times that much on our high-speed rail system without building a single mile of track
Yeah, he mentioned 50 million euros for the coastal link. Here in UK one motorway junction costs the same!
That's bullshit
A football stadium in the United States costs over $1.5 billion. Mind you Montenegro only has a population of 600,000 and is slightly smaller then Connecticut.
@@Bk6346 I don't think it size or population some into it much. It's a very poor country by European standards, so the cost of labour and the land to build the road would be much lower.
To be fair, California is far bigger than Montenegro which is the same size as Connecticut.
I tried Keeps once.... All my hair fell out and I had an inexplicable urge to make 30 youtube channels 🤣
Shots fired
Is he baldsy enough to reply?
I dont see a loss here.
He’s a perfect spokesperson for the product he’s promoting 😂
I recently drove from Serbia to Podgorica, Montenegro & took the old road to get a better look at the country side.. What an experience.
What I did see is the old Chinese Road Corporation camp sites - huge lots of concrete slabs with bright blue sheet metal sheds scattered through the mountain sides with concrete debris & waste left to rot which really impacts the beauty of this company in a heart breaking way..
There is current road works still in operation, so it looks like the road may be completed over the next 5 or so years..
What a beautiful country is Montenegro - I’m blessed to be here 🇲🇪
In Serbia we don't even know how much our new highways (built mostly by Chinese) cost. There is one route, from Novi Sad to Ruma, through Fruška Gora mountain, that was suppose to cost around 150 mil €, when the EU companies did the research, pre-Covid era. EU was willing to grant loans to build this road, but one of the conditions was that EU keeps a track on all of the expenses. Serbia opted for China credit, and now the price of this road is almost 600 mil €. Funny, isn't it ;)
it is a century joke if you think the EU can build that road cheaper
That's a problem with small corrupt countries. You make really big money on idiotic megaprojects. And since there are no transparency standards like in EU, you can steal half a billion and crush the economic, and your uninformed voters will still like you
@@stunstar4553 no... it won't be cheaper... but at least the quality will not be too bad and there would be modicum of fiscal responsibility demanded of the government and the contractors... I wonder how much of the money that was used lined the pockets of local politicians and Chinese officials/businessmen who were involved.? Its like combing Eastern European corruption with Chinese Corruption... I wonder what that will lead to?
@@knand9936 Generally speaking, according to research by the World Bank, the construction cost of roads and railways in China is only one-third of that in Europe. You can compare China's projects in Ethiopia with France's in Morocco. During the actual construction process, the project may face various unexpected problems such as political, environmentalist protests, COVID, and native people's unwillingness to relocate. For example, the construction of Berlin Airport in Germany began in 2006 and was expected to be completed in 2011. In fact, it was not completed until 2020, which took aboat three times the expected time
@@stunstar4553then again, In Euroepa brand new bridges do not collapse from a breeze of the wind ;) You build pop corn buildings for a pop corn prices
There is one huge benefit - safety.
Stretch of road between Kolašin and Podgorica 😊 - Kanjon Morače, was one of most dangerous roads in this part of the world. Many tunnels, sharp turns, high bridges and fog. Rain can wash away the road, or thick ice to accumulate. Old section of the road was Montenegro lifeline with almost no alternative path.
Highway was overprices, but even this 40km screech saves at least 100 lives in 1st year alone.
Bankruptcy has never made anyone's life safer. Dependence on China will take its revenge on the inhabitants of this small country. It would be better to speed up negotiations with the EU, quickly join the community, get 85% funding for the project and build whatever you want easily within the European TENT network. And now, honestly, we don't know what the future holds for Montenegro.
This guy is subtle pro West propagandist. He is always biased when he talks about contries like Russia and China. Only points bad things, hidding good ones.
You are a good person, I'm sure, but 1 billion euros could have saved more than 100 lives
@@LTNetjak
Sure they will.
@@LTNetjakhaha you joking right???
"The road to nowhere is paved with excuses." -- Mark Bell
"Copying witty quotations out of context proves nothing." -Me
Good intentions*
"The road to hell is full of good intentions" -Bruce Dickinson
Here it sounds like a justification of the western, vile propaganda and their "free" market.
As a Montenegrin, I wanted to clarify a few inaccuracies:
13:35 - Which recent polls have you found indicating that China is more popular than Europe or America?
A poll from a month ago that I found asked the following question:
"The main support of Montenegro in foreign policy should be?"
The results were 54.7% in favor of the European Union, 5.6% the USA, and only 1.8% China.
The loan was indeed denominated in USD, as you said, but it was hedged in 2020 (contrary to what was mentioned in the video that it was not hedged against currency fluctuations).
The hedging deal was reached before the first debt payment was due, enabling the Government to make its first four installments worth $158 million in euros at a lower interest rate.
This arrangement meant Montenegro would pay in euros at an interest rate of 0.88%, instead of in dollars at an interest rate of 2%, as was originally agreed in 2014 when the project was first announced. Consequently, the Government paid the Export-Import Bank of China $25 million (23 million euros) less than if the loan had remained tied to the dollar exchange rate.
Regrettably, the Government of Dritan Abazovic exited the Hedging agreement, meaning that subsequent payments will be made under the old terms (the reason for exiting the agreement is unclear to me).
Regarding the project itself, you were correct to note that Western companies haven't shown interest in working on it. However, what you omitted to mention is that the political West provided no support for this vital project for this small Balkan country, despite offering financial backing to similar yet unprofitable projects in Croatia. Living here, I can affirm that this project is necessary and must be completed. We cannot build a sustainable economy without robust infrastructure. Regarding Chinese companies' involvement, I was and still am against it, but no Western companies or banks showed any interest in financing or working on the project. We had no other alternative.
Regarding the July 2023 talks, they are irrelevant. A technical and corrupt government, which lost its parliamentary support over 10 months earlier, conducted these talks with the Chinese (interestingly, the government of Dritan Abazovic lasted longer in a technical term, without parliamentary support, than in a normal term). With the new government in power, their stance on this issue will soon become clear.
I imagine being in the EU, Croatia in certain cases can get some support from the EU development fund, at least if they can argue it will support one of the EU wide infrastructure arteries that are in development. In which case it might cover half the cost or so, which obviously is enough of a saving for a local government to make many a project more doable. So that might have some impact on some of the Croatian infrastructure projects at times.
Still right now there Montenegro isn't in the EU this is a bit unfortunate, as they won't be able to get such support for certain routes right now. Though I'm unsure if this particular highway would be considered particularly useful in the wider EU structure right now or not, so can't say how much help one could expect for that particular venture.
Alternately this particular project has so many risks, that western countries are afraid to take on simply because they wonder if the financing will really work out. As big as such companies are, if they are left in to big on a money hole they too can suffer quite a bit. No doubt they try to make contracts to avoid that, but it's not like things never go wrong in such matters anyway.
Well these are just some speculations though, I honestly wouldn't know the actual reasoning. Still, hopefully in the end things will work out for Montenegro one way or the other.
@@Quickshot0 The similar projects I mentioned, financed by the EU in Croatia, were completed before Croatia joined the EU in 2013. Regarding the risk argument, these investments are so minimal in comparison to the EU's GDP that they pose no substantial risk to the wider EU economy. It's crucial for the EU to safeguard its interests within Europe and to minimize foreign influence in European nations. A greater risk to Europe is China's financing and construction of the highway in Montenegro, compared to the EU financing and using European companies for the construction of the highway itself.
Our new government plans to open tenders and initiate discussions about the second phase of the highway project this year. We anticipate seeing the EU's stance on this and whether they are open to assisting with the financing.
@@AtWarAndy When thinking about risks, I was thinking about it more in terms of the local government being able to support the costs of the project. Something that the last project certainly already caused some problems with.
The EU supporting projects the community can not properly support could be argued to actually not really be doing a good deed for them, which could make them reluctant to do such projects then.
Just as they could be reluctant if they don't think it would actually bring enough return for the costs. But again, I don't actually know what a realistic return rate assessment for this project finds. So I really wouldn't know if this would be a real concern or not.
Sadly as such I can actually only speculate here as I really don't know any of the local specifics.
Still, as Montenegro continues to economically grow, one can but hope that the costs of the project become less of an issue.
I do hope things work out in the end, and while I agree that geostrategically speaking it's not great for the EU to have more Chinese money about. It's also not great to support projects that might actually be more expensive then is currently worthwhile for the local country either. I imagine the EU would be especially reluctant in case a project had a high corruption chance as well, as it doesn't like wasting money like that. So one can hope that in future projects that is less of a concern over there.
Well in the end, in things with a lot of money attached, things aren't always as easy to get going. Lots of those EU projects had quite a bit of time before they actually got going after all. As local govs often had their own concerns on what they wanted to prioritize as well.
lol, western companies were against it, because it was a stupid project. „We were forced to“ - you simply could have done anything else but build this palace of bankruptcy.
This clarification of yours is so unimaginable „Balkan“. The west forced us to do stupid stuff. I heard those talking points so often from the family of my now ex gf (Serbs). It’s fucking ridiculous really.
You bankrupted yourself by building an unreasonable highway, to wich European country already said BS, but you went ahead anyway.
I wanted to post a comment at first like „bet somehow they‘ll blame the west for this“ and then I saw your post. 🎉
Seeing the whole video. Nowhere does it mention that is ‘vital’ for the country. It literally says that it goes nowhere. And as one of the other people wrote. Even if you put in another billion. There is nothing in the Serbian side. Of course it doesn’t get funding from the west. There is no viable reason for this highway to exist. Maintenance is a yearly high cost. It is not only building it
When connected to Serbian border (Serbia builds highway on their side ) you will have highway connecting Montenegro to Hungary and rest of Central Europe. Most tourists and goods are coming from CE and it will be major positive influence for MN economy.
Well, Montenegro is a place of yet another Megaproject that also went crazily over budget and took 25 years to build (and also made little sense before being completed end-to-end) - a railway line connecting the two same points as this highway should when completed (Beograd - Bar railway line). If I got it correctly adjusted for inflation (from 1970s dollars) cost was about 3.5 billion dollars (in todays money) - again, trickiest and most expensive part being in Montenegro (including a bridge that way highest railway bridge in the world for 30 years). It might deserve a Megaprojects video of its own.
It would have made far more sense to build a railway along the same path. far cheaper, farm more rugged, far easier to repair and FAR more efficient at carrying cargo, people and cars. Was not the stated reason to build the road so that they would become the "export capital of Europe? Also, google "Tofu Dregs" for an idea about how China builds stuff. Don't be surprised if tunnels collapse, bridges fall and the road becomes a maintenance nightmare soon. China has a saying, "If you can cheat, do."
Oh, it should have a dedicated video! I rode it twice and it’s one of the most spectacular engineering marvels and backstories I’ve heard of. 115 km of tunnels, insane! The landscape there is otherworldly and I am happy to see the nation get some recognition. People are also very friendly and so far not really pushy with prices, like many other paradise-like destinations.
Let's hope the highway made by China is not made to Chinese construction standards.
Two words: TOFU DREG
The bridges and tunnels will collapse within 2-10 years leaving Montenegro with a massive debt AND nothing to show for it.
Why they need this highway, when there is already railway to the port? 🙄
One word- Government.@@gargoyle7863
If Podgorica airport copped on and got some decent routes, they could get loads of tourists up this motorway to the ski resort in Kolasin during winter. 1 hour from airport to ski resort in a cheap and beautiful country that uses euros - ideal.
Unfortunately we in the Balkan we don't think that way. I'm from N.Macedonia, and my country can easily be turned into a rich place by just building infrastructure and resorts to our untapped natural beauty. Instead our government is just steal steal steal. I mean we also have a similar unfinished highway from Kichevo to Ohrid that has been under construction for 10 years now. They also promised to build another highway from Gostivar to Kichevo so that finally Skopje and Ohrid will be linked with a fast highway that will only take 1.5 hours instead of over 3 hours today.
Most tourist to Montenegro come by car from Serbia that's why a road was needed
cheap??
I've driven on the opened section of the road in September. Very few cars were on it at the time. It also currently comes to a very sudden end into road works on the older road for many KM.
The narrative and comments section for this channel are truly remarkable
As someone who often drives on this highway i must say that this road was something that we needed so much.
The north south road E65 is main traffic artery of Montenegro.It connect us with our main trade partner Serbia.
This first pach of 40km of highway replaces most dangerous and slovest part of E65, trough Platije gorge.
Old road is not Nepal style mounrain road, but its is still too dangerous and slow, esepecialy with big trucks on road.So it got tousends of people killed, with our population of only 600k.
We did not go bancrupt, and next stages of highway are beeing planed.Serbia finished more than half of its sections, with others i diferent parts of planning and construction.
Even those that were against it now say that is was good thing to build it at the thime we did.Because inflation just ate the cost.
Kosovo build two highways that cost almost 3 billion euros with own budget with no loan. The one with Macedonia is half across Sharr mountains. In spring we are finishing the third highway with Gjilane and all the roads to big cities are upgraded to 2x2, some 4x4. Why Montenegro Gov did not look options to build themselves, but have to get loans? I truly don't understand this! You can spare from state budget 200-300 millions euros each year to complete.
I also drove this highway this summer, driving from Belgrade, seemed pretty useful to me 👍
@@deadend2023 Kosovo is mostly, nice and flat land surounded by mountans.Between all major cities there are no big obstacles, like huge mountains, or even rivers.So building and upkeeping other infrastructure there is much cheaper, and most of budget money can go into building highways.
Most of Montenegro, even coast are in mountains.Paralel with building highway, we needed to rebuild and bild a lot of new 1+1 roads, and to rebuild and mantain our railway network, which is 100% operational, and those roads and railways go trough same mountains and gorges.
We spent in last 10 years on that projects more than we spent on building highway.Beetween 150 and 300 milion euros every year, directly from budget.
@@kriegsmarinemne8166 to be honest, we are pretty pissed off in our Government since they announcing building a new motorway connecting Prizren and Tetovo. People see this not necessary and requesting better connection with Montenegro to have access in Bar port and coastline. I see this debate going on now. Connection with Montenegro will be beneficial for economies from both sides. But not sure if Montenegro will be ready for new project without completing the current one.
All the best in project, hope to be completed soon. You need this...
@@deadend2023Kosovo is teritory that is finances from drug trade.
Visited Zabijak in 2016, absolutely lovely country and people, hope it is going ok out there
Fun fact: "Zabiják" means "killer" in Czech.
I learn so much here in this channel. Thanks and 56
The city of Chicago essentially GAVE AWAY ITS ROADS. A privately held parking company now owns every parking spot in the city. Existing metered spots saw their prices skyrocket. The parking company then expanded the parking fees into the neighborhoods. And the Chicago police are the parking company’s private enforcement arm. Naturally the details are more complicated but it is a lesson for other municipalities.
Police writes tickets if you didn´t pay parking? That would never work in Europe. Police here don´t have time for that sht, not to mention it´s a private company. In Croatia they want to introduce electronic payment on motorways but they still didn´t figure it out who´s gonna collect fines because Police obviously don't want to.
I was wondering how things were going with that new progressive mayor that rose to power by claiming the previous progressive mayor wasn’t progressive enough. Why hasn’t he done something about that? Is he too busy blaming Walmart for closing an unprofitable location that was suffering from increasing theft?
Wtf, all private
Also said "privately held parking company" is based in Saudi Arabia and partially owned by the royal family.
thats not the same as giving away the roads....
Same thing is happening in North Macedonia. The highway between Kicevo and Ohrid has been building for 15 years and still not finished.
Chinese are involved in that road too? The current road to Ohrid is horrible.
@@hinken24 yes, i think the company name is "sino hydro"
@hiken have Americans build for them would take even longer and cost 30 times more
They build high speed railways In California for 14 years costing 5 billions and not finished
It will take another 30 years to finished
@@tlsvd5842this dude has been shinning chinas shoes in every comment section, how much do they pay you?
@@CatManOfTaste He's just telling the truth. Got a problem with that?
What a spectacular drive it would be if the road was finished.
I mean i drive on that road almost daily, it is spectacular and very useful to us locals.. and once it's fully finished it'll be a net positive for our economy
As a pleasure drive, I suspect that it's more pleasant before it's finished, due to lighter traffic.
The smart thing is let China finish the highway and then default on the debt
@@Bk6346 Along with all the other countries sucked in by the belt and road initiative. Not much China could do about it in the end.
@@voltbf4379 Well i hope all those bridges are more safe than those that they built in China.
Why is it that the story of so many Megaprojects can be boiled down to "Humans go to do something amazing, but ultimately politics ruin everything."
Because ultimately…politics ruin everything
Usually because politics are initially involved with humans doing those amazing things in the first place.
Because the pie-in-the-sky idea was originally floated by a politician to begin with.
because whenever there is money, there will be politics
Greed !
Take a Chinese loan with terrible terms to pay a Chinese company to pay Chinese workers to build a road. Beg EU & US for debt restructuring. Citizens still say they prefer China to the EU & US. Re-enter talks with China for more construction.
Sometimes you just need to leave people to the fate they choose. I don't want to hear of them asking for help again.
they be speaking chinese there eventually lol
>"Citizens still say they prefer China to the EU & US"
Hmmm, I wonder why...
@@holydamienYeah very simple, great propaganda. If the montenegrans knew of the contract and the EU/US bailout they wouldn't want anything to do with them.
Always you should to leave people to the fate they choose. But why you don't leave them and have military bases around the world. For the same reason that Hitler did... You want all the world.
@@theman5887 No, because we all suffered greatly because of US loans and now know they come attached with a lot of strings. When the West loans you money, they also start dictating policy, force you change laws, devaluate your money so that Western companies can pick up local companies and property that worth less in order to further their monopolistic and colonialist greed and overreach. The world is done with your lies and cons. Watch "Debtocracy" to learn how the same old Western con screwed up Greece.
Here in N.Macedonia we also have a similar story about a highway that hasn't been finished for about a decade now. I'm talking about the Kichevo-Ohrid highway. It was contracted with a Chinese firm, and was supposed to be finished by the late 2010s. But due to corruption, making some mistakes in the tunnels and government change in 2017, it was left unfinished. Now just unfinished bridges, unfinished tunnels and unfinished highway dominate the road when driving from Kichevo to Ohrid to this day. It looks like now the Americans want to take over the project, and finish it, so we shall see what happens.
Americans take over will cost 10 times more and 20 years longer than the Chinese and they use the materials from China anyway
In California they have been building high speed railways for 14 years and it’s not finished costing 5 billions
It might take another 20 to 30 years to finishing
When US took it , it would be another California HSR
@@directxxxx71 Doubt it, HSR has specific reasons why it is like it is, including USA rules, local land owners being costly to buy out, etc. If Macedonia was wise, it already owned all the lands for the road when they started building, and most permitting and so should long since been cleared. Any unexpected construction surprises should hopefully mostly be discovered already in a half built state as well.
So I think there's a fair chance it might finish some what on budget. Well unless the already built parts turn out to be sub-standard, in which case reinforcement works could be a costly issue.
@@directxxxx71this guy comments on every video about china, how much do they pay to shine their boots, I could use a side hustle
On the other hand Croatia is heading towards 1500 km of highways, not even counting fast roads.
I've actually driven part of the road near the coast. It was absolutely amazing. I felt quite intimidated and disoriented from driving over it at the same time. The highway section ran at dizzying heights, I recall a huge long curved section, it made me feel like floating in the air, almost disconnected from earth which, in a way, you are. It did have some traffic, definitely more than 6000 cars a day, I would estimate. The coastal section that is now being developed does seem to make sense, it is rural roads only with a lot of traffic.
Wait till it starts to fall in few years
it will be a tofu dreg project ...soon will collapse
@@chefjnph7113 You wouldn't see American infrastructure doing that. Lol.
@@bakedkoala9827 Why do you think that?
@@chefjnph7113 Oh really, do you have the construction plans?
Montenegro looks like the starting map in Cities Skylines. Me spending all my money on Highways XD
relatable af 😂
The fact that it only cost 1 billion is honestly amazing. Look at American or even EU costs for roads and bridges that wouldn't even get you one of these bridge most places.
Can't say I'm surprised by the new plans. When you've done something that makes you look like a fool, the common reaction is to deny you made a mistake - indeed, proclaiming your critics the fools and double down on the idiocy, because admitting stupidity is always more painful than continuing to dig. And then there's the whole sunk costs fallacy...
People like you can't see beyond your noses. Have you seen the cost benefit analysis that the Montenegro government did? After you read it come back and comment.
The Grand Tour - clarkson, Hammond, and May - should go there and do a drag race, like they did at a similar project on Reunion.
the road you showed at 4:52 is not in Matesevo, it's in Kotor.
Accuracy is not his forte.
Great vid
Please also mention in your video that Montenegrans were supportive of this road based on recent survey at the spring of this year
Infrastructure is rarely a bad investment. The US highway system for example paid off big, even though it was rather expensive. In fact, Roman, Greek and Persian roads are still paying off dividends today.
Moreover, Eastern Europe is still suffering from the former megaproject com-block mentality where Russia (or some abstraction of "State") footed the bill and was supposed to be repaid in goodwill rather than hard currency. In other words, everything is a good idea if the State pays for it.
If you are a backwash Balkan country and you are thinking highways, you pretty much follow two philosophies...
If you build it they will come and someone else always foots the bill. In other words it's a win - win for you.
Love the Connecticut shout out ❤
It's a pretty highway but I wouldn't really recommend anyone to use it. Why? Because the regular road network goes along the mountains, valleys and gorges and Montenegro has plenty of those. Travelling could then easily take an extra hour, but Montenegro's landscape is so beautiful it is absolutely worth it.
In general you should visit Montenegro. It isn't just a beautiful country, the hospitality is among the best you can get and the cuisine's also great. I've made some life long friends over there.
Those who use it everyday disagree with you.
There are people who need to get from point A to point B. There are trucks that need to deliver goods. It's all fancy and cool for a tourist that visits once a year the country, but not for the other people that drive there.
@zaros dum dum acting smart in the comment section😂😂😂
After you've driven that dangerous road a few times the scenery gets old. Tourists always have the option to use the old road but for people needing to get to their destinations fast the new road is indispensable and once the Serbia connection is made a new level of prosperity will engulf the economy of Montenegro. When that happens the cost of the highway will be a pleasant and distant memory.
I as Serbian am just happy to see this new road finished to the closest sea to my place.Let me tell you I have driven the old road there and it is a hell of a ride.
Yes you have a good chance of ending up in hell driving on that old road.
We all have! ;)
This 1B highway sounds and looks like a great deal considering Toronto needs 20B for 16km a subway line.
It's a secret deal, you do not know what its actual cost is.
The problem is that those constructing the Toronto subway won’t take Toronto away from Canadians.
Just wait to see what happens to all the countries who have allowed greedy idiots to get into debt with Xi Jinping’s China
@@aata-zehadsecret for who?
Great job Montenegro.
Westerners are thieves and try all possible propaganda to protect their criminal interests.
Looks like life there would be much easier if you could work with cheaper company. But you don't have that possibility since they are from politically forbidden countries.
When I think first thing Westerners would call on would be freedom, open market, democracy...
Montenegro has a population of about 600,000. Canada has a population of over 30 million.
Attempt to distribute that cost over two different population sizes, then come back. Montenegro also does not have oil, so they can't do the Middle Eastern infinite money cheat like what the UAE did.
For those saying China is better for Europe than the usa, propping up a dictatorship state in NK, delivering weapons to Ukraine and denying doing so, and concentration camps aren't a viable alternative. Just look up the countless belt and road failures or corruption controversies. The USA isn’t great, but does have flawed democracy and freedom of speech and maintains some level of commitment to human rights despite crossing the line a lot. China doesn’t have any of them. Would you rather sleep with a serial killer or a cockroach? One is mildly annoying the other poses a direct threat
Fascinating video. I wonder how resilient the road will be in the face of seismic activity, slips and flooding? Here in New Zealand we know all too well what the maintenance costs are like when roads travel through hilly terrain.
Have you considered doing a Megaproject about the proposals to capture antarctic icebergs and towing them to places that need fresh water? I remember seeing those in magazines when I was a child though obviously it was never attempted.
Cuz it was never done...
I have vague memory, that I the early 1900' there was a thing with capturing icebergs and towing them to new York. Then they would be cut and sold as ice since it was before Electric freezers
It would be easier to grabe and mine it put the ice in a custom hold thats heated to 38f just hot enough to melt the ice and then transporte water not ice for there less water in ice.
So melting it makes sense and moving that.
How will we heat the ice idk use the engine in some way or whatever.
Middle eastern countries looked at it but it wasn’t feasible due to the melt by the time it got to the Middle East.
@@DeathsGarden-oz9gg Are you OK?
Greetings from Bamberg :D
Give it a couple of years, Tofu Dreg will set in and create a dystopian piece of art...
I love your take on the things you report on. I also love the fact that there is a bald man whose sponsor is a company that helps men keep their hair. You should ask for some free samples 😂
He already stated that it’s too late for him
Simon; please do a video about The Sheffield Supertram (UK) fiasco. From initial promises/lies (date), assured cost, proposed routes/destination, logistics, how many businesses it killed, the traffic disruption/chaos, where they got the steel rails, the injury/claims, how much they sold it for when it proved it could never make a profit (known from the start), how few people of Sheffield it serves, etc etc. And we're still paying for it!
easier / more relevant to just look up HS2 .
Sounds like the Sheffield Supersham. Please tell me that's what the media coined it! 😂
@@ButterfatFarms Not just the media, you should hear the names what we've called it.
Sheffied 'council' blunder from one expensive 'not fit for purpose' fiasco to the next in order to deflect from the previous/ongoing ones. They even try previous failures again and again heedless of prior outcomes. All the while the latest gob-shite lies and pontificates a fantasy of self agrandissement.
The concept had been tried in Manchester, yet despite the glaring faults/errors they did the same/worse in Sheffield. The real reason for it was to disguise/force a radical (machiavelian) change to the traffic/public-transport system; all the while claiming it was/is 'a benefit'.
It 'serves' a tiny tiny percent of Sheffielders, yet we are all still paying/suffering for it.
@@ButterfatFarms Hahahah, I hope so too.
Megacorruption would be a cool channel.
Fascinating
His commercial reminded me of the old junk mail stuff, "Enlarge yout pen..." LOL
Highway prices are not the problem here. The highway is demanding with many bridges and tunnels. The problem is that the state does not have money for such a project, and the people want such a project, so the politicians satisfy the people. Another problem is that the highway, when and if it is completed, will not have enough car traffic to maintain the highway, let alone repay the loan.
nope, this section of road serve not only demostic trucks, also international trucks. the tolling fee is the main income and pay off the debt year by year.
If that is your excuse, no infrastructure will be built. infrastructures are VERY important to a nations development and progress.
@@rap3208in this case it is just stupid. Nothing that road could develop brings back their 1/3 GPD they pay for that year ok year. Just think! How should this be possible!?
They should have build something smaller. You can’t just force develop a whole economy with only one big street.
@@FraggnAUT Infrastructures are not for profit, they are a service to the country and its citizens, just like the budget it spends for government and public buildings, parks, water supply, hydroelectric dams, hospitals, etc.. Where would you be if there is no school in your country?
These infrastructures give intangible benefits that keeps on giving. A country needs infrastructures to develop and progress. You are just brainwashed too much by the west that wants to vilify the BRI because they can't do it even if they themselves want to. ...So, they throw mud at it.
Do you really dont understand that a infrastructure project that expensive with that small of an economy wont do any good? You cant just say "but infrastructure is good and shouldnt be for profit".
Yeah, but they shouldnt bancrupt that country they are build in either.
Brainwashed by the west, lol. Its mathematics, numbers dont lie.@@rap3208
Coruption is the bigest problem.
Not for the Chinese autocracy.
as always 🥱
Everywhere, all the time...
Spelling is the biggest problem.
No, in this matter no.
It's a part of a much larger project, to connect them to the highway running through Serbia to connect Europe to the montenegrin ports via a highway. Attracting the European Chinese and local/regional markets alike. And it has joint funding, plus it is to go on par with the soon to be high speed railway, with simular lanes, and purposes.
Here in Hawaii, USA. We have an elevated rail project in construction. About 15 miles, at projected 4.2 billion $. Started in 2011, the project is about HALF done and has already spent about 9 billion $.
That bridge pillar at like 1:55 is some 650-750ft tall, a quarter kilometer, or an eighth of a mile lol
(that's the closest I could get using the tower crane's cabin as a reference and calculating via pixels, the angle makes it less-precise, however.)
Be interesting to know if graft, corruption and the usual Chinese penchant for tofu dreg construction means this road will last beyond a few years.
I would never dare to even take a step at a Chinese built bridge that tall, when the bridges built in China keep failing then i doubt the ones they build other places would be any better.
@@jasperhorace7147 Well, the region already has a lot of corruption (just look at Albania, even Italy) for similar practices. Shoddy contruction is an old scam.
@@jasperhorace7147 tofu dreg construction is a problem with residential construction. Public works projects and commercial high rises seem to be robust enough.
Bro, China is the future, their engineers are the best in the world, the construction is far beyond anything the west is capable of.
Brilliant video. Montenegro is a beautiful country. This, I had no clue, is pitiful.
it looks beautiful, have to visit one day
You should do a feature on why Bulgaria still doesn’t have a major highway network connecting the largest cities, especially why there is no highway between Sofia and Bucharest, two European capitals…
If that had been built in the UK, you could guarantee it would have cost at least 50 times more...
We all know that "Made in China" (and Made by China) products are cheaper and we also know the reason why 😂😂
@@YakuzaSRC
If we're being honest, Chinese quality when it comes to major construction projects like these have been pretty damn good in recent years. They've been building a ton of infrastructure in their own country and so far there hasn't been many major issues when it comes to projects of this kind of scale.
Sure Chinese products are still of questionable quality alot of the time and many lesser construction projects also have their problems, but when it comes to major construction projects like these, they've been pretty good so far it seems.
I live in Canada and I look at the Chinese and I admire how quickly they can get things built with good quality and wish we could do the same. For example in Toronto they started a 19km, 25 station LRT project back in 2011 and 13 YEARS LATER after 13+ BILLION spent on this relatively small project IT STILL HASN'T BEEN FINISHED YET.
Our government is still throwing millions and millions of taxpayer dollars at this project to get it done and if we're lucky it will be finished sometime in 2024.
@@UzumakiNaruto_ i bet he is using the computer / mobile that is made in China too. when the Japanese started exporting motorbikes then cars the home appliances / electronics , they were considered cheap cr@p too..now ? here in the UK , the Korean took the exact same approach with cars KIA / Hyundai then the likes of LG and Samsung ..
@@UzumakiNaruto_theres dams with thousands of cracks built by China..
@@UzumakiNaruto_ All I will say is Tofu Dreg Construction. Search that and you will see the problems with Chinese civil engineering. Three gorges dam is the scariest one.
Maybe it's my US-centric mindset, but when you said $1 billion for the road and bankruptcy in the same sentence, I'm so used to the U.S. federal government spending that in an hour that I don't flinch at billion-dollar projects anymore. At least Montenegro didn't have to build a trillion-dollar interstate system like we did. They would really have a heart-attack.
Hey the interstate is ok
HSR in both the US and the UK burns thru a billion in no time. Nobody stops the projects, everybody drinks the sunk cost fallacy Kool-Aid.
@@justincaver324it fucks the cities it goes through, they should have built them to the sides
And now multiply this $1 billion by 500, because that is the population ratio between Montenegro and the US!
If you scale it up to USA's GDP, it would be a 5 trillion-dollar road to some redneck town with a population of 500.
Plot twist, he uses Keeps on his beard. Great video 🤙
They should get The Grand Tour to do a film there.
For reference, the Connecticut he compared it to has 3.6 million people.
This is part-and-parcel with China's Belt and Road Initiative which is seeing them invest heavily in foreign infrastructure, particularly transport-related and particularly in Africa. The idea is to have countries be heavily indebted to China while at the same time making it easier to move raw materials and goods in and out. This gives China substantial power over poorer countries and their resources.
Nice regurgitation of the latest propaganda facebook news or cnn threw at you, have you got any original thought of your own?
@@steven1898 Hardly. These are my own conclusions based on observing China's behavior and stated policies.
@@alexhajnal107 While it's not propaganda, it takes very little knowledge or observing to arrive at that conclusion.
@Alexhajnal do you observe the Europeans they don’t build but colonized and stole resources raw materials
plundering and exploiting Africa and other countries around the world and genocide on millions of the natives people
Nice try. the African debt to the world is around 800 billion and out of that 88% are owed to the non-chinese based lenders.
Seems a low outlay when you consider the cost of building a tram line from Edinburgh airport to the city centre has a cost of over a billion pounds.
I took a ride on this highway on the second day of its opening. It offers nice scenery along the way. The highway did manage to avoid the dangerous Moraca river canyon and shortened travel to the Adriatic seaside, although you have to get off the highway at some point and continue on poorer roads. This is Montenegro's only highway. I hope they finish it all the way. The highway is named after Princess Xenia of Montenegro. She was the first female driver in the Balkans.
It's funny how if they built the current highway first, it would've been a hell of lot better for them
Yea but the corrupt politicians would have pocketed way less of the budget and it wouldn't have been as sensational propaganda boost
Love the beginning line.. very little is compared to the size of my home state of Connecticut. If you find a time or route without traffic.. it’s 1 hour north/south and 2 hours east/west on the dreaded I-95
This reminds me of ANC led government which came up with the upgrading of e-tolls highway project.
Thanks!
You should do a video on the Atlantropa project. It was a vision of an early 1900's engineer to dam the Mediterranean Sea and gradually drain it of all warer to make living space and fertile ground for Europeans to expand into. He later pitched the idea to the Nazies who oddly didn't really like the idea.
Interesting that he tried it on with the Nazis who turned it down so they had some sense Also they wouldn't have been that keen on Europe joining north Africa.. needless to say it would probably end up more like the dead sea if it had worked
He did: th-cam.com/video/N5wKUQ2BiiM/w-d-xo.html
This is why Montenegro's military is stuck using old Yugoslav era weapons and vehicles from the 1970's and 80's. The situation is so bad that Montenegro is currently trying to sale their navy's flagship and several other large old Yugoslav era naval vessels / submarines for money.
their only enemy would be albania also serbia is their ally
I have been on this road last year, spent the night in Podgorica. For 40km we encountered 4 cars. It had a feeling of deserted road. Beautiful, gorgeous, new, but deserted. And the thought, of course, was who paid for all this and how is it economically viable? Now we know.
I've been on that OLD road through the Morača canyon. It's horrifyingly beautiful. So steep cliffs that the slope is above 100% - there's an rock overhang above you.
We in Croatia got lucky - Pelješac bridge was built by the China, but it was mostly financed by EU, and at least somewhat transparent. The European Union gets all frisky when it comes to "connectivity", so I guess it's a good thing. I wish all the best to our neighbours in Montenegro. You need that road and you deserve it finished and connected.
I miss living in Bamberg!
I've been to Montenegro recently, the country is absolutely stunning, some of the most breathtaking roads I have ever been on.
We only went on this main road once, it is very useful to traversing the country even if it has not yet fulfilled it's actual purpose.
I was thoroughly amazed by this road when we drove it. A road like this would simply never be attempted in the UK, it's astonishing how many mountains it cuts through and how many valleys it spans.
Considering we have spent 10x this on a stretch of railway in a MUCH more forgiving terrain... 1 billion seems cheap.
The locals did complain about this project however, said that the government was useless/corrupt (not saying it is, I wouldn't know, everyone complains about their govt in the same way) and it was a huge waste of money that should have been spent on other things.
The highway will make much more sense when it's connected up with Serbia. A lot of Montenegrins live and work in Belgrade. There is a lot of trade between the country. Belgraders would be very keen for a weekend getaway option to the coast, given that it would be only 4-5 hours of driving to the coast when the highway is completed.
Happened in my country too:
1. Build a highway for the sake of build a highway (by china money (debt))
2. Construction finished, still in debt
3. No one but few people used the highway
4. Sell the highway to china
5. More debt, price increased, and local people got nothing
The reason is that no other Western countries would invest. There was the report about a subway station in middle of nowhere in China a decade ago, and now, it's a city. Without roads, nowhere remains nowhere.
Montenegro ain't China, though.
@@hhiippiittyy
Montenegro still needs infrastructure to be built in order for its nation to advance and improve. At some point you have to spend money to make money and raise the standard of living for your people.
@@UzumakiNaruto_
No doubt.
But comparing Montenegro to China is absurd.
@@hhiippiittyy
We're not comparing China to Montenegro at least I'm not. I think we're making the point that many times you have to build the infrastructure first before you see growth and prosperity following.
If Montenegro doesn't build infrastructure like this highway then its cities aren't as well connected and the country isn't as well connected to its neighbors. Now that this highway is built and more is to come, perhaps it will promote more businesses opening and more growth and tourism around the highway and make other popular tourist destinations more easily assessible.
Just take a look at the US. They pretty much built their country by building rail lines everywhere before there was anything to connect to in many cases especially when we're talking about from the east coast all the way to the west coast. Later on they did the same thing with their highway system.
Without those two massive infrastructure projects who knows maybe the US doesn't stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic now or if it does it wouldn't be nearly as well connected as it is now. As it was they did invest hugely into those infrastructure projects and its paid off for them ever since.
Chinese loan and bankruptcy are always in the same videos sometimes in the same sentence 😂😂😂😂😂
Bogus western narrative. The people who string the two together are a bit short in the brain department.
When you said that hair loss is close to your heart came to my mind how different we are. For me, hair loss is much closer to my feet then my heart 😀
This is the best spend billion dollar investment in Montenegro history. All 40 km is made from bridges and tunnels ,it is crazy to think that is waisted money.
So what we'll do is, we'll forgive this debt as long as you take on this even bigger debt that will mean we own your entire country.
Montenegro: Sounds legit.
they learn from best.
Conspicuously absent from this video and the comments -
What is the quality of the concrete (and other materials) employed, given the reputation for poor quality materials in China's domestic construction?
They will know when that bridge is opened to traffic.
Reminds me of the Tren Urbano in Puerto Rico. A train to nowhere.
Montenegro should have constructed a railway line from Sutomore, along the coast to Kotor. This would have been quite more beneficial.
Few things not mentioned but very important:
- Belt and Road is counting on depth crisis and confiscates important ports or objects of interest, in this case the Port of Bar.
- This stretch of highway saves almost 100 lives per year becouse the only existing road way the infamously dangerous Morača Gorge road.
- Montenegro is heading for EU membership very strong, it was to be expected to ask EU for assistance regarding this fuck-up.
- when fully finished, the Port of Bar will be a major distribution hub with Serbian highway network connection it will boost the whole Balkan region
Montenegro is absolutely beautiful. Seriously. I was surprised at how beautiful it is.
Its beautiful. Is this the only country with a racist name?
Montenegro should eliminate the speed limit on that road, raise the tolls, bring in a bunch of supercars, have some F1 drivers set track times, and advertise it in Europe and the US as a competitor to the Nurburgring; where you can fly in and race from one end to another and see if you can beat the best times.
I live in Sweden and have a five-hour drive home that is only partly motorway (e22). Trust me, a good road saves lives and does wonders for your mental health. If there is anything worth investing in, it is infrastructure. I agree that it would have been great if they could have built the road on their own, but I don't see any fault in taking China's help if that is needed. Or the EU subsidizing the project for that matter - we have subsidized bus lanes in Sweden, so why not help Montenegro with building a safe road?
What a shame honestly, the nature over there looks marvelous.
This is a similar story with most of the Belt and Road projects.
Can you tell how many African countries have benefited from centuries of Western intervention and IMF?
@@ozwiz935 you can lead a horse to water, you cannot make it drink.
@@ozwiz935
If people from the west and around the world never visited Sub-Saharan Africa, they'd all STILL be living in the stone ages in 2023. Africans complain about all the bad, but they NEVER acknowledge that without the world giving them every modern convenience on a silver platter that they'd still be less developed than the Roman empire from ancient times. How sad is that?
There are African tribes that have had barely any contact with the outside world and guess what? They still hunt with spears and are living in mudhuts because they were completely incapable and/or unwilling to learn and advance as a society. So yeah African nations were taken advantage of, but the world literally transported these same countries from the stone age into the modern world even though they're still barely able to adapt to the modern age that we live in.
@ Nathan Nonsense.
@@bobsmith3983 Simon has covered the consistent issues with the belt in road initiative. Many projects are left incomplete, it uses out of country workers, some of the construction is tofu dreg, and many countries have ended up in crippling debt. There are some projects that have gone well, but there’s a reason countries are ditching out of the initiative. It’s not some secret or conspiracy theory.
Very very interesting.
As we say "down at the seaside where a hand caresses a hand"
Ili ti "Dole na primorje gde ruka ruku miluje" 😂😂😂
If the Montenegrin government takes on the extension, it might be wise for the EU to stop providing any additional funding and to insist that Montenegro repay what they have already used. Sometimes it takes a very hard lesson to teach someone...
I would only partially agree with the video. Yes, the current section of the road Smokovac (near the capital Podgorica) - Mateševo (a minor village) is indeed a road to nowhere. But, once the rest of the highway to the Serbian border is completed, as well as the section through Serbia on the other side (from Požega to the border), this will be the first and the only connection to European network of highways for Montenegro. Sure, this will require many more years of work and generate even more costs to both Montenegro and Serbia, but, once fully completed, it will probably provide the fastest and safest road connection for all of Montenegro, as well as major parts of Albania and even south-east of Bosnia and Hercegovina to central and eastern parts of Europe. It is even more important if we take into account that the goal of both Montenegro and Albania is to become a well developed tourist destinations, so there is a chance that this project (with all of mentioned downsides) will in the end pay off in a couple of decades.
Whats the use of a such long connection to european highways when they can just drive to the nearby Croatian highway in Dubrovnik?
Finally someone with a vision. How will will a country develop without proper infrastructure? China saw the need for infrastructure in order to grow and invest heavily in it but others only criticize. Here in usa our infrastructures are crumbling. It takes forever to get a project completed.
If I am not mistaking, Croatian Highway has not reached Dubrovnik yet ... ? Besides this, driving from Podgorica to Dubrovnik currently takes 2h 40min as per Google maps, via Nikšić and Trebinje. But I can assume that they plan to have a modern highway on this route also, some time in the future. @@slavenrasic2173
About the same happened in Romania with the famous American company Bechtel, which invoiced about 1 bln usd for just a part of it- only 50 km of highway in Transylvania....they say that was the cost for Romania being accepted in NATO in 2004....till today, the contract is strictly secret....what a shame !
Everyone on the internet "I am shocked"
Me living in the Balkans "Yep, it checks out"
:D
1st you will not get that kind of a 20 minutes ride for a family of three on any fun fair for € 3.50. 2nd: This is important infrastructure. Why did Europe not pay for it? And thank you for the precise analysis from the distance. Well done.
Europe didn't pay it partialy because of corruption and partialy because locals mostly lean towards Russia and China. Like Serbia, they think the Russians are their brothers (at least in faith), but get more (money, jobs, resources) from EU.
You should do a report on the Chinese built SGR in Kenya. That would certainly be an eye opener
From the caption on the thumbnail I was expecting this to be about HS2