Agreement signed on loan for "Corridor 10" - 388m USD from World Bank

Serbia and World Bank signed the agreement on loan of 388m USD for construction of "Corridor 10" through Serbia today (July 13, 2009).

The agreement on the loan that can be used from September 1st was signed by the Minister of Finance, Diana Dragutinović, and the Head of the WB's Office in Serbia, Simon Gray, while the agreement on realization of the loan was signed by the World Bank and Serbian company "Corridor 10".

The Minister of Finance of Serbia, Diana Dragutinović, said that the World Bank had approved long-term loan on period of 20 years, with the grace period of eight years and interest rate that equals six-month libor lowered by 0.05%.

She said that the money obtained from the World Bank would be used for construction of 32 km of road between Leskovac and Grdelica and 9 km of highway between Niš and Dimitrovgrad, as well as for improvement of traffic safety.

The Head of WB's Office in Serbia, Simon Gray, said that double procedure of technical audit would be introduced in the realization of the project in order to be made sure that the funds from the loan were spent properly.

As he explained, one audit will be financed from the loan, while the other will be financed by the World Bank.