BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Azeri civil engineering company Azvirt has started the construction of a 467.5 million euro ($518.8 million) motorway connecting Ruma to Loznica in northern Serbia, the Serbian infrastructure ministry said.

The project envisages the construction of a 21 km motorway linking Rima to Sabac, a 1.3 km-long bridge over the Sava river, and a 55 km expressway between Sabac and Loznica, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement on Thursday. 

Serbia's government signed in November a deal for the construction of the Ruma-Loznica motorway with Azvirt. The Ruma-Sabac motorway will be built in three years, while the Sabac-Loznica expressway will be completed by the end of 2023, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said back then.

In September 2018, the transport ministry said that Azerbaijan's government had decided to extend a 210 million euro loan to Serbia to support the project's implementation.

($ = 0.9011 euro)