Montenegrin Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry Secretary Zoran Radonjic on Thursday neither confirmed nor denied media reports that the Montenegrin government had extended a deadline for Croatian company Konstruktor to submit bank guarantees for the construction of a motorway in Montenegro, HINA reported.

"The Montenegrin government may extend a deadline for Konstruktor to submit the guarantees even after March 1 if it finds it to be in its interest," Radonjic told Podgorica's Antena M Radio. He said that the commission in charge of the project and the Transport Ministry would present the results of the submitted bids at a meeting of the Motorways Council on March 2.

"The given deadlines are tentative and may be extended as long as the government, as the commissioner of the work, estimates that it is in the interests of the State of Montenegro," Radonjic said. He did not rule out the possibility of extending the deadline for Konstruktor beyond March 1 if the company provides "doubtless proof" from international financial institutions that it would sign an agreement with them.