Serbia contracts EUR 734 million with China – Highway, bypass route around Belgrade and railway to Hungary to be built

Serbia signed six contract and agreements with China worth EUR 734 million on Saturday, November 5, at the summit of China and CEE countries 16 + 1 in Riga, and, as Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said, the realization of the projects would start immediately.

Among the contracts signed is the one envisioning works of modernizing and reconstructing the Belgrade-Budapest railway, Corridor 11 and the Surcin-Obrenovac section of the bypass route around Belgrade.

Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic signed a contract on the first phase of the project of the section from Belgrade to Stara Pazova, worth USD 319 million, with Infrastruktura Zeleznice Srbije and the consortium of Chinese companies China Railway International and China Communications Construction Company.

The Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese Exim Bank on providing loans for the Hungarian-Serbian railway project on the territory of Serbia was also signed.

The contract envisions the construction of a two-track railway from Belgrade to Stara Pazova in the length of 34.5 kilometers.

This will enable the start of the construction of the 200 km/h railway, which will reduce the time needed to travel between Belgrade and Budapest to less than three hours.

Surcin-Obrenovac highway and bypass route around Belgrade projects also agreed

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic and the president of China’s Exim Bank, Liu Liang, signed an agreement on financing the construction of the Surcin-Obrenovac highway worth EUR 208 million.

The signing of this agreement enables the works on the final section of the Belgrade-Cacak highway to begin.

Mihajlovic, along with the director of PE Roads of Serbia, signed a commercial agreement with the Chinese company Power Construction Corporation of China on the continuation of the construction of the bypass route around Belgrade, worth EUR 207 million.

The contract entails works on the section from the Ostruznica bridge to Bubanj Potok, and it envisions the participation of local companies in 49% of the works.

The construction of the bypass route around Belgrade will also continue in cooperation with China, in the length of 19.5 kilometers from the Ostruznica bridge to Bubanj Potok. The project entails the construction of four tunnels in the total length of 2.7 kilometers, as well as 22 bridges in the length of 5.3 kilometers.

Mihajlovic also signed a Memorandum with Huawei at the Riga summit.

The Memorandum envisions an all-encompassing cooperation in the sector of transport through the assistance in selecting the most favorable telecommunications solutions for railways, highways, airports and ports, transfer of knowledge about new technologies, as well as training of Serbian experts in the area of transportation.

Vucic asks prime minister of China for help regarding MSC Bor

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that he had asked the prime minister of China, Li Keqiang, to help Serbia resolve the case of MSC Bor, similar to how the Chinese had provided help regarding Zelezara.

– They’ve sent their most powerful company to deal with it, which is very important for Serbia – Vucic said.

He repeated that there had been discussion about crucial topics, Petrohemija among them, but he also noted that there were talks with other partners as well, such as Iran.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

SINOHYDRO Predstavništvo Beograd

Government of Serbia

Aleksandar Vucic

Li Keqiang

Exim Bank

Surcin Obrenovac highway

Sinohydro

bypass route around Belgrade

Huawei

Embassy of China in Belgrade

Li Manchang

MSC Bor