Written by: Vladimir Pavlović

The CULT Bike Route project, implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Montenegro, the NGO Discover Serbia from Priboj, and the Student Organization of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering from Belgrade, within the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II) – Serbia-Montenegro Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020, was presented at a virtual conference to potential users.

The goal of the CULT Bike Route project is to enhance the capacity for exploring tourism potentials by establishing a cycling route that will simultaneously promote and uncover the underdeveloped cultural and natural heritage of the area covered by the program, attract both local users and those of the international EuroVelo routes passing through the Balkans, and impact the economic development of the gravitational area along the cycling route.

Goran Drobnjak, Acting General Director of the Directorate for European Integration, Programming and Implementation of EU Funds and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, highlighted the significance of the project, which aims to establish a cycling route that will be several hundred kilometers long and pass through 12 municipalities in the cross-border region. The municipalities included in the project from Serbia are: Ivanjica, Raška, Novi Pazar, Tutin, Nova Varoš, Priboj, and from Montenegro: Rožaje, Berane, Kolašin, Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, and Mojkovac. Along the route, the establishment of a ‘mountain bike sharing’ system and potential accommodation capacities for cycle tourists is planned.

The project budget, which runs until November 2022, amounts to almost 300 thousand euros.

The CULT Bike Route project is co-financed by the European Union within the financial instrument of pre-accession assistance (IPA II) through the Serbia-Montenegro Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020. The contract for co-financing with EU funds was signed with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia – Sector for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programs.