January 22 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with French and Chinese companies for the construction of the Belgrade metro, it said on Friday.
The MoU was signed with PowerChina and French companies Alstom and Egis Rail, the government said in a press release.
France committed to mobilise 581 million euro ($707 million) of financing for infrastructure projects in Serbia under a cooperation agreement signed by the two governments in November. The agreement paves the way for Alstom to officially submit its commercial offer for the Belgrade construction project in early 2021, French daily Le Figaro quoted French minister delegate for foreign trade, Franck Riester, as saying back then.
A total of 127 million euro of the financing is intended for improving the efficiency of the power grid in Belgrade, whereas 484 million euro will be invested in the construction of the first line of the Belgrade metro, according to the press release.
The construction of the Belgrade metro will begin in the third quarter of 2021, infrastructure minister Tomislav Momirovic said earlier this month.
According to the preliminary design of the project, the Belgrade metro network will initially consist of two lines - of 22 km and 19.8 km in length, respectively - and will also integrate four urban railway lines. The first line of the metro will run along the Sava river, crossing downtown Belgrade, and will link the Makisko Polje area in the southwestern part of the Serbian capital to the Mirijevo neighbourhood in the northeast, near the Danube river. The second line will connect Zemun, a northwestern suburb of Belgrade, to the Mirijevo neighbourhood through the New Belgrade urban municipality.
($ = 0.821064 euro)