Chinese company PowerChina, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian government to design the Belgrade subway, is also interested in building the “Karadjordje Corridor”.
This was stated by State Secretary at the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Miodrag Poledica, Beta reports.
It is said that the forest corridor “Vozd Karadjordje” should merge corridors 10 and 11, and its construction will cost from 1.7 billion euros to more than two billion euros.
Serbia agreed with PowerChina late last year on a Memorandum of Understanding for the design of the Belgrade metro, following a meeting with Minister Zorana Mihajlovic.
Also at the end of 2019, the Government of Serbia adopted a draft Lex Specialist to accelerate the construction of important infrastructure projects such as subways and highways.
The French company Alstom was also interested in building the metro in Belgrade, which was mentioned as a partner for the construction of the metro even before the change of government in the capital, while recently PowerChina is appearing as a possible choice.
The Serbian, French and Chinese sides have negotiated the construction of the metro, but details of these talks are unknown to the public.
The Serbian government plans to borrow 580 million euros next year to begin the first phase of construction of the Belgrade subway, which was announced in the draft budget law of Serbia for 2020.
Of this amount, 80 million will be borrowed from France, while the other 500 million is not known who will be the lender, since this amount is in the budget classified as “project loans with foreign investment corporations, funds and banks”.
Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesic said on November 6 that the construction of the metro will begin at the end of 2020, and that two metro lines with a total length of 42 kilometers will be built, Nova Ekonomija reports.
