April 15 (SeeNews) - Serbia’s government said that preparatory works on the construction of a metro depot in Belgrade will be completed in summer, ahead of the December deadline.
"As early as next year, we expect the start of construction on the entire route of the first line of the metro, from Makisko Pole to Mirijevo," finance minister Sinisa Mali said in a press release on Friday.
Mali said that the first metro line, with 21 stations, is expected to be completed by 2028-2029, with plans for a second line already underway.
In 2021, the Serbian government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PowerChina and French companies Alstom and Egis Rail for the construction of the Belgrade metro system.
Serbia started the construction in November 2021.
According to the preliminary design of the project, the Belgrade metro network will initially consist of two lines of 21 km and 24 km, respectively and will integrate four urban railway lines. The first line of the metro will run along the Sava river, crossing downtown Belgrade, and will link the Makisko Polje area in the southwestern part of the Serbian capital to the Mirijevo neighbourhood in the northeast, near the Danube river. The second line will connect Zemun, a northwestern suburb of Belgrade, to the Mirijevo neighbourhood through the New Belgrade urban municipality.