European Union to Set Aside EUR 175.9 Million for Belgrade-Nis Railway

For the Paracin-Medjurovo section on the Belgrade-Nis railway, the European Union will set aside EUR 175.9 million. An amount of EUR 263 million in grants from the EU has been approved for Serbia for seven projects, among which is the reconstruction of the railway on this section. The hydro power plant on Vlasina is also to be reconstructed, and the EU set aside EUR 16.1 million for it, as reported on the Juzne Vesti website.

Among the seven new projects from the fields of energy, environment and transportation infrastructure is the Belgrade-Nis railway. The EU expects the reconstruction of the railway to enable fast railway traffic. The EU ambassador to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, has stated that this is a big and important investment.

– Together, we are already carrying out big projects such as the gas interconnector Serbia-Bulgaria and the Trans-Balkans Power Corridor, railway section from Belgrade to Nis on Corridor 10, and they are of great importance, not just for the economy, but also for local communities and for connectivity. They create new jobs, enable access to better services and a better environment – Giaufret emphasized.

The minister of European integration of Serbia, Tanja Miscevic, has stated that the new projects will enable the citizens to live better lives.

– The citizens will see the results very soon – a train ride from Nis to Belgrade will be much faster and passenger safety will be improved, the production capacities of our energy system will improve, especially from renewable sources, by using wind energy, and losses in the transmission system will be reduced as well – Miscevic said.

She announced that, as part of the coming projects, the construction of a railway bypass route around Nis would be planned.

The organization “EU for You” says that, for the Paracin-Medjurovo section, 48.3 kilometers long, EUR 175.9 million will be set aside. The project entails the construction of a two-track railway, including the electrification, signalization and the telecommunications system. They announced that the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Nis railway will enable trains to run at 200 km/h.

Let us remind that, in late October, Aleksandar Vucic, while visiting the works on the gas interconnector in Jelasnica together with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that Serbia would get EUR 600 million from the EU for the construction of the fast railway between Nis and Belgrade. After years of promises, the minister of finance of Serbia, Sinisa Mali, recently stated that the agreement on the construction of the railway would be signed on December 22.

EUR 16.1 Million for Hydro Power Plant on the Vlasina

The reconstruction of the Vlasina Hydro Power Plant will be financed through grants from the EU in the amount of EUR 16.1 million. The EU says that this will improve the energy sector of Serbia, because Vlasina will get new capacities for renewable energy.

Due to the long period of exploitation and problems with the equipment, the cascade currently has a power of only 60-80 MW. This project will replace all the production generators, electrical-mechanical and hydro-mechanical systems and control equipment. These investments will secure a reliable and secure operations of the cascade for another 30 years, with a power of 136 MW. The power plant is expected to produce 309 GWh a year, which is equivalent to the energy needs of 93,000 households – the project says.

They said that they expected the works on the Vlasina plant to be completed by 2028 and that they would continue investing and giving support to the Green Agenda in Serbia.

Ministarstvo za evropske integracije Republike Srbije

Ministry for European Integration

EU for You organization

Tanja Miščević

Emanuele Giaufret

Ursula von der Leyen

Aleksandar Vučić

Siniša Mali

Jelašnica

Vlasina

Međurovo

Paraćin Međurovo railway

Belgrade Niš railway

Paraćin Međurovo section

Belgrade Niš section

reconstruction of Vlasina Hydro Power Plant

HPP Vlasina

reconstruction of Belgrade Niš railway

construction of gas interconnector Serbia Bulgaria

gas interconnector Serbia Bulgaria

Trans Balkans Power Corridor

construction of Trans Balkans Power Corridor

construction of two track railway

construction of gas interconnector in Jelasnica