Montenegro’s Chinese road
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been called the priciest piece of tarmac in the world. In 2014 the government of Montenegro signed a contract with a state-owned Chinese company to build part of a 170 kilometre-long highway – a road that would connect its main port with the Serbian border to the north. The price-tag on the first 42 kilometres of asphalt was a staggering $1 billion - most of which has been borrowed from a Chinese bank. In Montenegro, questions continue to be asked about why the project went ahead when some experts said that it was not viable. The River Tara – a UNESCO protected site – has been impacted by the building works, and allegations of corruption and kickbacks have hung around like a bad smell. Meanwhile, the economy has taken a massive hit as a result of the pandemic, and some Montenegrins worry about the country's ability to repay the loan. Worse still, a clause in the road contract states that Montenegro may relinquish sovereignty over unspecified parts of its territory if there is a default. But is everything as it seems? Assignment investigates.
Presenter: Linda Pressly Producer: Mike Gallagher Editor: Bridget Harney
(Image: A slogan for Chinese construction workers adorns part of Montenegro’s new mountain road. Credit: BBC/Michael Gallagher)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's gravel underfoot and there's gravel everywhere you look here. It's kind of a |
| 0:09.0 | moon scape of piles of gravel. Where is it from? |
| 0:14.0 | It's from a river. |
| 0:16.0 | I'm Linda Pressley and today's assignment on the BBC World Service begins in what we're |
| 0:21.0 | told was once one of Southeast Europe's prettiest spots. |
| 0:25.0 | We can see a legal exploitation of the gravel and we can see ruined place, ruined |
| 0:31.0 | the river. We can see that the river is moved because of the exploitation of the |
| 0:37.0 | gravel. |
| 0:39.0 | It's actually heartbreaking when you look across and you see the way that the river |
| 0:44.0 | has been exploited. If somebody came with a tippetock every day for a year and |
| 0:51.0 | dumped the waste and that is what we're climbing on in a very very cold wind. |
| 1:02.0 | We can call this gravel dump. |
| 1:05.0 | We're in Montenegro about 10 km south of the capital, Poggoritza. |
| 1:10.0 | Fugueishic activist and journalist has brought us to the ravaged banks of the river |
| 1:15.0 | Maraccia. The river's bed has been stripped bare. |
| 1:22.0 | What do the companies do? They dredge from the bottom of the river? |
| 1:25.0 | They dig gravel from the bottom of the river because they are the most quality gravel and |
| 1:29.0 | they change underground the river. They change the river bed. |
| 1:33.0 | And how much of the gravel that's being extracted here is for use on the new highway? |
| 1:40.0 | We don't know that but we know that the companies working here are the contracts on the |
| 1:46.0 | highway. |
| 1:47.0 | Mention the highway in Montenegro and everyone knows what you're talking about. |
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