The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a €200m loan to the Slovak Republic to finance the R1 motorway project.

The €1.3bn project involves building a 52km highway and forms part of the east-west national corridor.

Work includes building sections between Nitra and Selenec, Selenec-Beladice, Beladice-Tekovske Nemce, as well as the Banska Bystrica northern bypass.

The loan will be given to the project’s concessionaire Granvia Consortium, owned by Vinci Concessions and Meridiam Infrastructure Fund.

The remainder of the R1 motorway project will be financed by €780m funds from a group of commercial banks.

The project is the country’s first public-private funded project.