BELGRADE (Serbia), June 12 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is interested in providing financing for the expansion of Serbia's Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport, EBRD vice president Alain Pilloux said.
"The Nikola Tesla airport is a public-private partnership. There is a private sector company and there is also a link with the state and we are looking at it to see whether we can be useful in financing the expansion of the airport," Pilloux said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Monday.
Zoran Ilic, an advisor to the Serbian minister of infrastructure, said in January the government expected the Belgrade airport operator, Aerodrom Nikola Tesla, to invest in the construction of an alternative runway and expand the passenger terminals.
The government said in March it signed a 25-year concession agreement for the operation of the airport in the Serbian capital with France's Vinci Airports.
Under the terms of the contract, Vinci Airports will pay 417 million euro ($491.7 million) to the Serbian government and 84 million euro to the retail shareholders of Aerodrom Nikola Tesla for the concession plus an annual concession fee of between 4.4 million euro and 15.1 million euro.
The Serbian government owns 83.1% of Aerodrom Nikola Tesla.
($ = 0.84809 euro)