Tunnel through Fruska Gora - Consultations on Novi Sad-Ruma highway construction started

Representatives of the republic and the province began consultations Friday (8 March 2013) on one of the largest infrastructure projects in Serbia - construction of the Novi Sad-Ruma highway featuring a tunnel through Fruska Gora.

According to the plan, the highway should be completed within the next 30 months and connect Novi Sad with Corridor X and the border with Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Novi Sad-Ruma highway will be 27 kilometers in length, and it will go through three municipalities - Novi Sad, Irig and Ruma, where about 400,000 people live and close to 30,000 companies operate. There are also 12 industrial zones and a free zone in the vicinity of this highway.

- This project calls for full synchronization of the republic, province and local self-governments - Minister of Regional Development and Local Self-Government Verica Kalanovic said after a meeting with Vojvodina Prime Minister Bojan Pajtic in Novi Sad. Late last year a preliminary agreement was signed with China's Road and Bridges, worth EUR 642 million, which includes the construction of two regional roads, one of which is the Novi Sad-Ruma highway and the other is the Morava Corridor in central Serbia.

Pajtic assessed that the tunnel through Fruska Gora would be the longest tunnel in Serbia with about three kilometers in length, pointing out that that highway would be of huge economic importance, as it would connect Backa and Banat with Srem and allow for a greater mobility of companies and citizens. As Pajtic added, the road featuring a tunnel is also of great ecological significance, given that Fruska Gora National Park is now being devastated on a daily basis by excessive freight traffic.

To Romania

As the prime minister of Vojvodina announced, the plan is to connect the future highway with the Romanian border, which should happen after 2015. The aim is to create a good environment for attracting foreign investors.