Saudi Fund confirms €12 million for the Pristina–Mitrovica road, ready to also finance a Pulmonology Hospital

The Saudi Fund for Development has confirmed it will finance the final segment of the Pristina–Mitrovica road with €12.3 million. As part of cooperation with Kosovo by this Saudi state institution, which finances development projects in other countries, the financing of a new project in the health sector was also discussed — namely the construction of the new Pulmonology Hospital at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo (UCCK), worth $20 million.

This was announced after the meeting of Kosovo’s Finance Minister, Hekuran Murati, and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Dimal Basha, with representatives of the Saudi Fund for Development.

Murati said the meeting discussed completing the road segment to Mitrovica, which had previously also been financed by the Saudi Fund for Development, as well as the new international agreement for the second part of this segment. “We were in a meeting with the Saudi Fund for Development regarding the road to Mitrovica for the already completed segment, which was financed by the fund. As you know, we have now also signed the international agreement for the second part of this segment, which completes the entire segment of the Pristina–Mitrovica national road. During the meeting we also discussed the other project related to the health sector, the new pulmonology hospital, worth $20 million, so as to ensure a modern space within the UCCK premises,” Murati said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Dimal Basha, announced that the Saudi Fund for Development will finance the Smrekonica–Mitrovica segment with €12.3 million, while the rest of the costs will be covered by the Republic of Kosovo. “Also, for the Smrekonica–Mitrovica segment, we now have the agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development, which dates back to 2024, while the agreement, as you know, took almost 2 years due to a non-functional parliament. Under this agreement, the Saudi Fund for Development will finance this segment with 53 million Saudi riyals, or €12.3 million, while the Republic of Kosovo will contribute over €3.7 million, so the project totals around €16 million. We are ensuring the project goes ahead without obstacles and immediately after these procedures are completed we will start the tendering procedures for the realisation of this final segment linking Pristina to Mitrovica. This investment is of particular importance, because it enables the completion of this link between Pristina, Vushtrri and Mitrovica; with the realisation of this project the traffic load will be reduced, better conditions will be created for citizens’ movement, but at the same time the environment for economic development will also improve,” Basha said, as KosovaPress reports.

The representative of the Saudi Fund for Development, Sultan bin Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, said they are pleased with the completion of the first project and expressed readiness to continue the partnership with Kosovo. “We congratulate [you] on the completion of the first project, the Pristina–Mitrovica road, while last year we also signed an agreement for another segment of the same road. We are very proud to be Kosovo’s development partner and we wish to continue this partnership. We also discussed a very important project in the health sector. We look forward to signing the loan agreement soon for the financing of this project, perhaps at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. We had a very fruitful discussion on development projects in Kosovo and the impact they have on citizens. We are here to show our readiness to support infrastructure projects in Kosovo,” he said.

Separately, the completion of this segment will enable the full Pristina–Vushtrri–Mitrovica road link.