February 17 (SeeNews) - Russian railway engineering company RZD International plans to start the construction of a second track on Stara Pazova-Novi Sad section of the planned Belgrade-Budapest railway corridor in May, Serbian infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Friday.
Government officials of Serbia, China and Hungary will meet in May to discuss the project, Mihajlovic said, as quoted in a statement by the infrastructure ministry.
Hungary, China and Serbia signed an intergovernmental agreement on the refurbishment of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line in 2015. The project with an estimated cost of 1.5 billion euro ($1.6 billion) would be 85% financed with the proceeds of a Chinese loan, the Hungarian government said at the time.
The Serbian government signed a $338 million deal for the preparation of project documentation and reconstruction of the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad section in July 2016. The Stara Pazova - Novi Sad section has a length of 40 km and its upgrade involves the construction of a twin-track viaduct over the Danube flood plain as well as a 2.2 km two-track tunnel.
In November, Mihajlovic said a portion of the 734 million euro Chinese funding for infrastructure projects in Serbia, agreed during the Riga summit of the heads of government of China and 16 central and eastern European (CEE) countries will be used to finance the Budapest-Belgrade railway line works.
In 2008 Russia lent Serbia $800 million for the modernisation of its railways. Serbia's government said in December it signed a protocol to extend until 2021 the deadline for the repayment of the funding.
($ = 0.9390 euro)