June 7 (SeeNews) - Serbia expects Shandong Hi-Speed Group (SDHS) to open for traffic the Obrenovac-Ljig section of pan-European transport Corridor XI this summer, infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said.
"We expect you to be fully committed to open for traffic the motorway from Obrenovac to Cacak by the end of the summer," Mihajlovic said on Thursday during a meeting with the director of the Serbian unit of SDHS, Jang Gianchao, according to a statement by the infrastructure ministry.
The Obrenovac-Ub stretch of the motorway has already been completed and ready to be opened for traffic, the works on the Lajkovac-Ljig stretch are near completion, and the company is currently working intensely on the Ub-Lajkovac stretch, Gianchao said.
Serbia hired SDHS in 2013 to build the Obrenovac-Ub and Lajkovac-Ljig sections of Corridor XI motorway, with a combined length of 50.2 km. The works were financed with the proceeds of a $334 million (270.7 million euro) loan from theExport-Import Bank of China.
The 40.35 km Ljig-Cacak section of the motorway opened for traffic in November 2016. The works on the section were valued at 308 million euro in total and were led by Azeri construction company Azvirt.
Corridor XI is a ferry/motorway corridor linking Italy's Bari to Romania's Bucharest via Montenegro's Bar port and Serbia's Belgrade.