The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlovic, talked with the Vice President of “Alstom Group”, Filip Deler, and the Director of Development of this company, Nikola Andrie, about the construction of the Belgrade metro.
Mihajlovic pointed out that the Belgrade metro is one of the most important and demanding projects that Serbia will realize and that Belgraders have been waiting for decades.
“We are glad that Alstom, as one of the best companies in the world, is interested in participating in the construction of the Belgrade metro, ie in the phase of equipping the system,” the minister stated.
According to her, the ministry is here to provide them with all the necessary support and to jointly implement such an important project, which is backed by two presidents – Aleksandar Vucic and Emanuel Macron.
Mihajlovic believes that the company’s representatives had a good meeting with the Minister of Finance, and that financial arrangements will be agreed soon, both for construction works and for works on the system.
The Minister of Construction reminded that in May this year a Donation Agreement was signed between the Government of France and the Government of Serbia in the total amount of 8.3 million euros and a procedure for the realization of the donation was agreed upon contract and which is made by the company “Egis”.
Philip Deler said that along with the feasibility study, preparatory works for technical solutions are underway and that “Alstom” will actively work in the coming months so as not to waste time on the realization of the Belgrade metro project, aware of the importance of this project for the Serbian government.
The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of France to Serbia, Jean-Louis Falconi, the ministry announced.
Minister Mali with French and Chinese companies on the construction of the subway
The Minister of Finance, Sinisa Mali, met with the representatives of the companies “Power China” and Alstom, as well as with the ambassadors of China and France, Chen Bo and Jean-Louis Falconi, with whom he discussed the project of building a subway in the City of Belgrade. The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Mayor of Belgrade, Goran Vesic.
Given that the project will be jointly participated by French and Chinese companies, it was agreed at the meeting to adopt appropriate legal acts by the end of this year, which will regulate the relationship of all existing parties, and be the basis for all further activities to be implemented, it is stated in the announcement of the Ministry of Finance.
According to the existing agreements, the French side will be in charge of electromechanics, while the Chinese side will deal with the construction work on the construction of the subway.
Egis is currently working on a feasibility study, and a meeting with their representatives will be held in the coming days, in order to plan further steps on the project in relation to the dynamics of the study, it is stated in the announcement.
It was also agreed at the meeting that it is necessary to complete the structure of financing the project as soon as possible, in which French and Chinese banks, as well as other international financial institutions, will participate.
Egis has previously done a feasibility study, which estimates that the construction of the first line of the subway will cost 1.8 billion euros, and the second line 2.2 billion euros.
The interlocutors agreed that this is an extremely important project for the City of Belgrade, which has been awaited for decades, and that it will be an absolute priority in the coming period so that construction work can begin as soon as possible.
According to the words of the Minister of Finance, Sinisa Mali, if all parties are fully committed to the project, the works on Makisko Polje could start as early as the end of next year, RTS reports.
