BELGRADE (Serbia), June 22 (SeeNews) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to provide financing for a project for an overhaul of Serbia's river transport infrastructure worth about 100 million euro ($116.5 million), the bank's head for the Western Balkans, Dubravka Negre, said.
Part of the financing will be provided through European Union grants and the EIB is in the process of approving a loan for the project, Negre said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Thursday.
The project is still in an initial phase and the EIB is currently identifying the works that should be performed, Negre added.
Serbia will start the construction of new river ports and investment in those projects is expected to reach about 200 million euro ($234.5 million), infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said in May.
In April, Serbia's government said it signed a contract with local company Beogradvode for the construction of a passenger port on the Danube in Zemun, a suburb of Belgrade. A total of 150 million dinars ($1.5 million/1.3 million euro) will be invested in the project, which will allow Belgrade to double its capacity for handling river cruise passengers.
($ = 0.858125 euro)