Serbia’s recent infrastructure expansion has increasingly relied on a closed contracting model, reshaping how the country plans, finances and executes its largest public works. At the centre of this system stands Power China, now firmly established as one of the most influential foreign builders in Serbia, as reported recently by local forbes media outlet. Crucially, the company does not operate alone. Its execution model is anchored by a strategic local partnership with Millenium Team, which has emerged as PowerChina’s primary domestic partner across multiple flagship projects.
This partnership marks a decisive evolution in Serbia’s infrastructure governance. Major projects are no longer awarded through classic competitive procurement led by sector ministries or public enterprises. Instead, contracts are increasingly negotiated and signed directly by the Ministry of Finance, under intergovernmental frameworks that bundle financing, engineering and construction into a single state-to-state arrangement. This structure allows projects to advance rapidly but fundamentally alters transparency, competition and accountability mechanisms.
The most prominent illustration of this model is the Belgrade Metro, a multibillion-euro urban transport project presented as the backbone of the capital’s long-term mobility strategy. PowerChina has been designated as a principal contractor for major civil and tunnelling works, while Millennium Team plays a key role as the local execution and integration partner, handling on-the-ground construction coordination, subcontracting and regulatory alignment. The total cost of the metro is expected to run into several billions of euros, financed primarily through state borrowing structured at the central government level.
A similar contracting logic applies to infrastructure linked to EXPO Belgrade 2027, another politically critical programme overseen directly by the central government. PowerChina and Millennium Team are involved in the construction of exhibition halls, access infrastructure and surrounding urban works. These projects are time-sensitive and strategically visible, reinforcing the government’s preference for direct contracting through the Ministry of Finance rather than risk delays associated with open tenders.
Beyond headline projects, the PowerChina–Millennium Team partnership extends into bridges and road infrastructure, including new crossings over the Sava River and sections of Belgrade’s ring roads and bypasses. These works are integral to reshaping traffic flows and logistics capacity in the capital region. As with the metro and EXPO facilities, contracts have been concluded without public tender procedures, relying instead on negotiated agreements backed by state financing.
Energy and utilities infrastructure forms another layer of this expanding portfolio. PowerChina has secured contracts for district heating modernisation, including high-capacity pipelines, pumping stations and energy-efficiency upgrades. Millennium Team’s role in these projects is particularly significant, drawing on its long-standing experience in domestic energy infrastructure and public works. Together, the two companies now operate across transport, utilities and urban development, creating a vertically integrated execution platform for state-funded infrastructure.
What differentiates this arrangement from earlier models is the institutional role of the Ministry of Finance. By centralising contracting authority, the ministry effectively acts as both financier and contracting counterparty, bypassing traditional procurement channels and public enterprises. This approach reduces fragmentation and accelerates implementation but concentrates decision-making power and limits public visibility into contract pricing, risk allocation and long-term fiscal exposure.
Supporters of the model argue that Serbia benefits from speed, scale and certainty. PowerChina brings vast EPC capacity and access to financing, while Millennium Team provides local execution capability, regulatory familiarity and labour integration. From the government’s perspective, this combination reduces coordination risk and ensures delivery of politically critical projects within fixed timelines, particularly ahead of EXPO 2027.
However, critics warn that the absence of competitive tendering weakens price discovery and excludes domestic and European firms from bidding on some of the country’s largest projects. While Millennium Team’s rise demonstrates how local companies can scale through state-linked partnerships, the broader construction market risks becoming increasingly concentrated around a small circle of preferred contractors.
There are also long-term fiscal implications. Most of these projects are tied to state-backed borrowing, with repayment obligations extending over decades. When contracts are negotiated directly rather than competitively tendered, assessing value for money becomes difficult. Cost overruns, currency risks and operational underperformance ultimately rest with the state budget, reinforcing concerns about contingent liabilities.
Strategically, infrastructure choices embed long-lasting dependencies. Metro systems, bridges and heating networks are assets with operational lives measured in generations. By relying heavily on a single foreign contractor supported by a dominant domestic partner, Serbia is effectively shaping its physical and institutional landscape around a centralised, state-driven execution model.
This does not negate the tangible benefits of new infrastructure. Urban mobility improvements, reduced energy losses and expanded logistics capacity are real outcomes. The core issue is governance. As Serbia continues its investment cycle spanning the metro, EXPO 2027, rail modernisation and urban redevelopment, the concentration of contracts under Ministry of Finance oversight will remain a defining feature of the system.
What is now clear is that PowerChina and Millennium Team together form a structural backbone of Serbia’s current infrastructure build-out. Their partnership illustrates how intergovernmental contracting, domestic champions and centralised fiscal authority have converged into a new model of project delivery—one that prioritises speed and control, while reshaping competition, transparency and long-term state exposure in ways that will define Serbia’s infrastructure economy well beyond the current decade.
