November 2 (SeeNews) - Serbia's infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic has said she expects no further delays in the process for awarding a 25-year concession contract for operating Belgrade Nikola Tesla international airport.
"Next year we will have the transaction completed, as we have planned," Mihajlovic said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug on Wednesday.
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Last month, the government extended the deadline for submitting binding offers in a tender for the concession contract to November 23 from October 23.
The Serbian government wants to give investors enough time to meet all criteria set out in the tender in the best possible way, Mihajlovic said.
"I support giving investors extra time to get the best deals."
Serbian media reported in June that four consortia and one company were expected to place binding bids in the tender.
The four consortia were: France's Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments, Switzerland's Zurich Airport AG and France's Eiffage; India's GMR Infrastructure Limited and Greece's Terna; South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corporation, Turkey's Yatirimlar ve isletme and Russia's VTB Capital Infrastructure; China's Hainan Air Travel Service, HNA and China National Aero Technology, according to media reports.
The Serbian government owns 83.1% of Aerodrom Nikola Tesla, the operator of Belgrade airport. The company's net profit dropped to 3.2 billion dinars ($31.3 milion/26.9 million euro) in 2016, from 3.3 billion dinars in the previous year.
(1 euro = 118.947 dinars)