In the construction of railways and subways in Serbia, Chinese companies dominate, and among the top five that generated the most revenue from business in 2022, as many as four are from China.
Three domestically owned companies are among the top 10 by total revenue – ZGOP and Pilastro from Novi Sad, as well as WEG Kolektor from Belgrade.
According to the data of the credit rating company CompanyWall, a total of 36 companies are registered for the construction of railways and subways in our country, among which they are engaged in the largest infrastructure projects, such as the construction of a high-speed railway from Belgrade to Subotica, i.e. Budapest, and only the first five on our list recorded 58.2 billion dinars in their business books in 2022.
The profit last year was, however, half as low as in 2021, when the companies registered for this activity made a total of 5.77 billion dinars in profit. In 2022, that indicator amounted to 2.43 billion dinars.
The construction of the high-speed railway from Belgrade to Subotica is a key project in which these companies are engaged, and the Belgrade branch of China Railway International Co.Ltd achieved the most revenue, as well as EBITDA of 2.84 billion dinars.
On the official portal of that company, which is a branch of China Railway, it was pointed out that in Serbia, under the principle of joint venture with China Communications Construction Company Limited, it was the contractor for the construction of the section of the Belgrade-Stara Pazova railway, and that it was engaged in projects as a subcontractor construction of the communication network and signaling on the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad section.
“In the coming period, China Railway International Corporation will put all its efforts into the construction of the Novi Sad-Subotica-Hungary-Serbia border section, and will aim for its completion and commissioning as soon as possible, thereby making a new contribution to deepening cooperation between China and the countries of the Central and Eastern of Europe”, says the Chinese company that recorded the highest business income in Serbia in 2022.
The Belgrade branch of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Balkan, which is also known by its acronym CCECC, is on the second ranking list according to data from the rating agency CompanyWall.
In Serbia, this company was engaged in the reconstruction of the Rakovac-Resnik railway, and was also interested in the construction of the Valjevo-Loznica railway.
However, it is far more engaged in Montenegro, where it participated in the modernization of the Kolašin-Kos railway, which was completed in 2017, and recently expressed its interest in continuing the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway, as well as investing in railway infrastructure.
The third place among the “newcomers” is held by the Russian RŽD International, which in a consortium with Karin Komerc MD from Veternik recently completed the modernization of the Subotica-Horgoš railway , so it is expected that the first trains from Subotica to Szeged will start on Monday.
This summer, the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia submitted a request to the Ministry of Environmental Protection to determine the scope and content of a study on environmental impact assessment of the Belgrade-Bar railway reconstruction project, for the section from Valjevo to Vrbnica.
As announced by Pluton Logistics, the project holder is the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia company, the client is Russian RŽD International, and the designer is Deutsche Bahn (a branch of Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting).
When it comes to “domestic forces”, ZGOP, WEG Kolektor and the Pilastro company are among the top ten on the list according to total revenues in 2022.
At the same time, ZGOB has the most employees among those registered for the construction of railroads and subways – a total of 267 workers were on the payroll of this company at the end of 2022.
ZGOP was privatized in 2017, when Integra Construction from Kazakhstan became the majority owner of the company.
Apart from the Belgrade-Subotica railway, ZGOP is also involved in the reconstruction of the sections Požarevac-Majdanpek, Titel-Orlovat, Orlovat-Lukićevo and Knjaževac-Zaječar.
Belgrade’s WEG Kolektor, on the other hand, is best known for its activity of disposal of non-hazardous and hazardous waste , and it also deals with the maintenance of the lower and upper railway tracks, which is the main activity of the Novi Sad company Pilastro.
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