October 1 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) hopes that the tenders for the construction of the Nis-Plocnik section of a motorway that would the city of Nis to Kosovo's Pristina will be launched in November, a bank official said.
"The tenders are ready to be launched already in early November," Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Regional Director, Western Balkans and Head of Serbia, said in a video file posted on the website of Tanjug news agency on Wednesday.
The EBRD has already negotiated a 85 million euro ($100 million) loan agreement with Serbia and the country only needs to establish a new government that will sign it, Hargitai said.
"We will be signing an agreement for an investment that can actually start immediately," she added.
The project is also financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), which will provide financing of 140 million euro for the construction of the 33 km motorway section. The financing consists of a 100 million euro loan plus a 40 million euro grant.
Last month, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) signed letters of interest with Serbia and Kosovo to help finance the construction of a motorway that would connect Nis to Pristina. The letters of interest are non-binding and will be followed by standard due diligence conducted by both agencies before financing is formally committed, DFC said.
"We agreed to sit down with the newly appointed director of the DFC office in Belgrade, John Jovanovic, and see what we can do together," Hargitai said.
The 77 km Nis-Pristina motorway will become part of a transport corridor extending to Albania's capital Tirana and further on to the country's Adriatic port of Durres.
($ = 0.852039 euro)