Serbian roads to get Chinese funding

Talks between the Chinese Development Bank and the Serbian Government could result in €400-€450 million of Chinese funding for Serbian highway projects. The Danube coast and the Corridor 11 projects are among those earmarked for a potential cash boost. Serbia’s Ministry for Transport (MOT) is also in talks with Chinese partners about other highway builds including100km of the Belgrade-Cacak, Belgrade-Obrenovac, Preljina-Ljig and Lajkovac-Ljig routes, as well as the 100km Pojate-Preljina project. China Road
November 28, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Talks between the Chinese Development Bank and the Serbian Government could result in €400-€450 million of Chinese funding for Serbian highway projects. The Danube coast and the Corridor 11 projects are among those earmarked for a potential cash boost.

Serbia’s Ministry for Transport (MOT) is also in talks with Chinese partners about other highway builds including100km of the Belgrade-Cacak, Belgrade-Obrenovac, Preljina-Ljig and Lajkovac-Ljig routes, as well as the 100km Pojate-Preljina project. 3366 China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is the contractor showing strongest interest in the Pojate-Preljina regional highway, while a loan for the project may well come from China's Exim Bank with a repayment period of 18 years.

Extensive research into the cost of highway construction in the country has been conducted by Serbia’s MOT, revealing huge variations depending on topography and geology. The Serbia MOT has reported that the cost of construction of highways in Vojvodina county ranges from €1.5-€2.5 million/km, while in Grdelicka Klisura costs range between €10 million and €15 million/km. Meanwhile, in the mountainous terrain between Ljig and Cacak highway construction costs around €7.5 million/km. However, the straight highway section from Obrenovac-Ljig is also costing around €7.5 million/km. Serbian contractors are building the 12km stretch of highway from Ub-Lajkovac for around €5.8 million/km.

Meanwhile Serbia's national state owned highway company, 3235 Koridori Srbije, has awarded the contract for advisory services for the €1.9 billion Corridor 10 project to French company 2643 Egis International. Under the terms of the deal, Egis will provide support for construction of 83.4km of the E-80 highway between the City of Nis and the Bulgarian border at Dimitrovgrad. Egis will also oversee work on construction of sections of the E-75 highway between Leskovac and the Macedonian border.

In a further development, Serbian roads company Putevi Srbije claims that 112km of roads have been built in Serbia since 2000 - equivalent to just 9.3km/year. Putevi Srbije's data shows that the country has a total of 610km of highways, 50% less than Croatia. The authorities have promised construction of modern highways from Horgos towards the Bulgarian and Macedonian borders, and a highway towards the South Adriatic. They have been criticised for insufficient organisation of road construction.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Funding found for Paraguay’s planned projects
    December 13, 2013
    The authorities in Paraguay have agreed a funding package with the Latin American Development Bank (CAF) for a series of infrastructure projects in the country. The funding comes in the shape of a US$222 million loan and this is the first time that the CAF has approved funding of this size for the country. This will provide partial funding for the Programme for the Improvement of Integration Corridors and Road Reconstruction. Projects included in this include resurfacing of a 73km section of road in Neembuc
    Read More
  • Bolvian Government boosting highway spending for key projects
    April 29, 2015
    The Bolivian Government will spend some US$123 million during 2015 on a series of highway projects. The work will be carried out in the country’s eastern lowland Tarija Department, reports Business News Americas. Work commenced in 2014 on three highways in Tarija Department. These are the 66km Entre Ríos-Palos Blancos route, which is costing $83.4 million; the 45km Villamontes-Palo Marcado route costing $39 million; the 30km Río Isiri-La Central $32 million. The work is important to the country’s economy as
    Read More
  • Costa Rica road projects moving forward - slowly
    July 18, 2017
    Costa Rica is moving ahead with a series of major road projects, but progress is proving slower than anticipated or desired. The Costa Rica Government is struggling to achieve satisfactory progress with its overall road improvement programme. So far the key focus has been on maintaining existing links rather than building and improving road connections. The country’s National Laboratory for Structural Material and Models (Lanamme) has produced a report revealing that 85% of the national roads are in accepta
    Read More
  • Montenegro and Bosnia co-operate on highway
    April 25, 2012
    Montenegro is to start work on a new highway project in cooperation with neighbouring Bosnia. The countries will work together on the Podgorica-Sarajevo highway and the two projects will be discussed by the governments of both countries soon. Meanwhile in nearby Serbia, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has held discussion with the World Bank (WB) regarding a new loan of €100 million for construction of the Corridor 10 motorway.
    Read More

Highlighted Content