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

  • Chile-Argentina Agua Negra Tunnel progress
    February 16, 2018
    The names of the contractors offering bids for the new Agua Negra Tunnel project connecting Chile and Argentina will be revealed in March 2018. Several firms have already expressed a keen interest in this major engineering project. Contractors that have expressed interest include CRS, a consortium comprising China Railway Tunnel Group and Benito Roggio e Hijos. In addition, Ingenieria y Construccion Sigdo Koppers and OHL are also interested in the project as are the firms Rovella and Condotte. The project
    Read More
  • India’s US$230 million, access controlled road project
    November 14, 2024
    A new tolled ring road project for India is worth US$230 million.
    Read More
  • Romania speeds up motorway work, including A1 TENT route
    August 2, 2018
    Romania’s transport ministry has cut red tape to speed up 13 road projects this year. Work was stepped up on around 169km of motorway, including contracts on several projects to complete the A1 motorway. The section between Lugoj and Deva is set for the end of the year. The A1 motorway when finished, will be around 580km and connect the capital Bucharest with the Banat and Crișana regions in the western part of the country. Cities along the route include Pitești, Sibiu, Deva, Timișoara and Arad before
    Read More
  • Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) picks Spanish, Chinese contactors
    October 22, 2014
    The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has contracted out two major road projects to Spanish and Chinese companies. China Hunan Hunda Road & Bridge Construction will build the 111.3km Merkote-Delbo junction-Alaba-Sodo road under a contract worth around US$50 million (€39.12 million). Completion is within two and a half years. Spanish joint venture UTE Elsameks Eco Asphalt Ethiopia 35 will handle the 63km Ambo-Welliso project. Completion is due in three years, with funding of around $59 million from the W
    Read More

Highlighted Content