The Board members of the Belgrade City Assembly have adopted the decision about taking of the new loan of EUR 60m from the EBRD for construction of the bridge across Ada Ciganlija.

- The city's total debt to the EBRD for the bridge construction will amount to about EUR 130m - said Radomir Kostadinović, the Deputy Secretary of Finance.

He reminded that the city of Belgrade would provide EUR 50m from its own resources for continuation of construction of the new bridge.

However, Belgrade Mayor Dragan Đilas pointed out that "the bridge across Ada Ciganlija alone will cost about EUR 120m".

- Belgrade will get a new bridge after 35 years and I would like all of us in the Assembly to be proud of that and to be able to say that we are the ones who also started realization of the metro project after 50 years of talk only, that we were sitting on these benches when construction of Zemun - Borča bridge commenced, as well as that we had 16 kindergartens built in year and half, while only one was built in the previous 20 years - Đilas said and added that the city's debts were not big because they amounted to about 5% instead of projected 15% of the budget.

- The City of Belgrade's debts are not too big and we will not leave behind us anything that can not be returned. The city budget will definitely be bigger in five years, Belgrade will develop and we should be proud of being a part of that process - Mayor Đilas pointed out.

- As long as I am the Mayor, we will keep taking loans, building bridges, boulevards, as well as metro - said Đilas.

City Assembly Speaker Aleksandar Antić said "this is the last loan we are taking for construction of the new bridge".

He said that the lack of money in the city budget for the bridge construction had been caused by the global economic crisis, as well as that it could have not been foreseen.