BELGRADE (Serbia), February 2 (SeeNews) – Construction works on Fruskogorski Corridor, a road in Serbia's Vojvodina autonomous region that will link pan-European transport corridors X and IV, are expected to start at the beginning of 2018, infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said.
Works will start at the sections which have their project documentation ready at the beginning of next year.
The Serbian government plans to invest a total of 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 million) in the road and railway network of Vojvodina in the next two years, Mihajlovic said during a meeting with the head of Vojvodina regional government, Igor Mirovic, on Wednesday, according to a statement from the minitstry.
The Fruskogorski Corridor project represents an upgrade of the Novi Sad-Ruma section of IB-21 road that will connect pan-European transport corridors X and IV, creating the shortest possible link between Bosnia and Romania through Serbia.
The 37 km-long Novi Sad-Ruma two-lane section of IB-21 is to be upgraded to a dual carriageway. The project also involves the construction of a 3.5 km-long tunnel under the Fruska Gora National Park, a protected mountain area located in Vojvodina’s Srem region, as well as a bypass around the town of Irig.
In November, the Vojvodina authorities said that Turkish industrial conglomerate Nurol Holding has expressed interest in setting up a public-private partnership and providing funding for upgrades on the Novi Sad-Ruma road.
The project has also entered the radar of Chinese investors. Last year, the Vojvodina government met representatives of China Shandong International Economic & Technical (CSIET) and China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), with both companies expressing serious interest in the project, the regional government said at the time.
($ = 0.924576 euro)