BELGRADE (Serbia), April 22 (SeeNews) – China's Power Construction Corporation (Powerchina) is interested in the project for construction of a metro network in Serbia's capital Belgrade, the deputy director general of the company's railway unit, Ren Lizhi, said.
Powerchina is interested in both the metro construction and the construction of a bypass railroad in Belgrade, Lizhi said on Friday, according to a press release issued by the Serbian infrastructure ministry.
"We are not only interested in these infrastructure projects, but we already have all the necessary know-how, experience and technology to carry out projects from the beginning to the end - from planning, designing, investing, to construction works," Lizhi said during a meeting with Serbian infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic.
In February, Andreja Mladenovic, an assistant to the Belgrade mayor, said the city government plans to select a company that will build a metro network by the end of 2019. The construction works are expected to start in 2020, Mladenovic said back then.
According to the design of the project prepared by French urban engineering company Egis, Belgrade's metro network will consist of two lines and the system will also integrate four urban rail lines. As much as 1.3 billion euro ($1.5 billion) will be invested in the first phase of the development of Belgrade metro, while the total cost of the project will reach 3.0 billion euro, Belgrade deputy mayor Goran Vesic said in September.
($ = 0.889167 euro)