Skip to main content

Chinese firms to work on Serbia’s Corridor 11 project

Serbia and China have signed a memorandum of understanding for construction of two sections of Serbia’s Corridor 11. The MoU was inked in during Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to the Chinese capital Beijing last week. Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported that Vucic said the deal was worth around €209 million and included construction of the 18km Surcin-Obrenovac bridge. Corridor 11 runs from the Serbian capital Belgrade southwest to the border with Montenegro, another member state of
November 30, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Serbia and China have signed a memorandum of understanding for construction of two sections of Serbia’s Corridor 11.

The MoU was inked in during Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to the Chinese capital Beijing last week.

Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported that Vucic said the deal was worth around €209 million and included construction of the 18km Surcin-Obrenovac bridge. Corridor 11 runs from the Serbian capital Belgrade southwest to the border with Montenegro, another member state of the former Yugoslavia that dissolved after a brutal war in the late 1990s.
 
Vucic told Serbia's state broadcaster RTS that the arrangement with China was "a very favourable credit arrangement with a lengthy grace period" that was based on a “dramatically” lower construction cost.

The prime minister added he believed that the second section, from Cacak to Pozega, would be finished by the end of 2018 - connecting with Uzice in western Serbia, and extending farther toward Montenegro.

Earlier this year, Serbian vice president Zorana Mihajlovic said that the Corridor 10 motorway is expected to be completed by the end of 2016 and that sufficient funding has been secured. She noted that in the past year, 58km of the motorway was been paved and another 120km is expected to be paved this year. Greek company Terna is the contractor.

Corridor 10 is one of the most important pan-European transport corridors that runs through Serbia to connect Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece. The goal is to create a transport system within Serbia that will be compatible with that of the European Union.

Meanwhile, Serbian news website B92 reported last week that the prime minister of Montenegro said China will invest in two major road projects. Milo Dukanovic, said China Roads and Bridges Corporation and the China Communications and Construction Company will work on the Bar-Serbian border motorway project. The first part will be financed with an €800 million loan from the Chinese State Bank.

Related Content

  • Serbia in talks with Shandong Hi-Speed and China Road and Bridge
    October 22, 2014
    Talks are underway between the Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure and two Chinese companies for construction and maintenance the two sections of the Belgrade-Pozega part of the E-763 motorway. The two Chinese companies, Shandong Hi-Speed Group and the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), are hoping to build the 18km stretch between Surcin and Obrenovac, the 31km between Preljina and Pozega and the 103km between Obrenovac and Preljina. No value of the work has been conf
  • Progress on Serbia’s Zezeljev bridge replacement is slow
    August 30, 2017
    Construction of the Zezeljev rail and road bridge across the Danube River is facing further delays, according to the Serbian government. Work on the 470m-long new bridge was supposed to be finished by this month. But national elections and changes of government have hampered progress, Serbian media have reported. The original bridge was completed in 1961 as a single-track railway line and separate roadway between the cities of Novi Sad and Petrovaradin. NATO attacked the structure five times during its camp
  • Serbia and China discuss Preljina-Boljare section of Corridor XI
    September 4, 2017
    Serbia is in talks with China for construction of the Preljina - Boljare section of the pan-European Corridor XI. The section will connect Corridor XI to Corridor X. Corridor XI will run from the Montenegrin port of Bar to Belgrade and on to Bucharest, Romania. Corridor X links Salzburg, Austria, with the Greek Aegean port of Thessaloniki port, via Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. This includes the construction of a motorway bypass of Belgrade.
  • Serbia’s road network may benefit from major Chinese investment
    September 27, 2012
    Talks between the Chinese Development Bank and the Serbian Government could result in Chinese funding for Serbian highway projects. The Danube coast project and the Corridor 11 highway project have been identified. Some €400-€450 million of Chinese financing could be made available to Serbia for highway projects following the most recent series of discussions. Serbia’s Ministry for Transport is also in talks with Chinese partners for the construction of a series of highway projects.