The European Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to provide a €1bn loan for the construction of the D1 motorway in Slovakia.

The D1 motorway, a part of the future motorway to Košice (Eastern Slovakia), will link Bratislava to Zilina.

The four-lane motorway is part of Trans-European Transport Corridor No. V connecting Vienna and the Slovak Capital to Gdansk in Poland.

A consortium led by Bouygues Travaux Publiscs of France will build the motorway through a public-private partnership.

The 52km road project is likely to be finished between 2012 and 2013.