March 6 (SeeNews) - China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) plans to launch the construction of a 30.9 km motorway section in Serbia linking Preljina to Pozega in April, Serbia's infrastructure ministry quoted CRBC general manager Du Fei as saying on Wednesday.
The Chinese company is also interested in the Fruskogorski Corridor road project in northern Serbia, Fei said, according to a press release issued by the infrastructure ministry.
The infrastructure ministry said in November it signed a 450 million euro ($508.5 million) agreement with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), the parent of CRBC, for the construction of the Preljina-Pozega motorway section.
Fruskogorski Corridor will link pan-European transport corridors X and IV on the territory of Serbia's northern autonomous region of Vojvodina. The cost of the project is estimated at 400 million euro, the ministry said at the time. The Fruskogorski Corridor project represents an upgrade of the Novi Sad-Ruma section of IB-21 road.
"In the shortest time, we will also start preparing the technical documentation for the construction of the railway line linking Belgrade to the North Macedonian border. Connecting the region is good for Serbia and its citizens," Fei said during a meeting with Serbian infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic, according to the press release.
In April 2018, the infrastructure ministry said it plans to invest a total of 600 million euro in the overhaul of the Belgrade-Nis railway line and 254.4 million euro in the rail line linking Nis to Presevo, on the border with North Macedonia.
Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China for the overhaul of the railway sections, part of Corridor X, during the seventh summit of heads of government of China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), also known as the 16+1 mechanism, in July.
($ = 0.88489 euro)