April 25 (SeeNews) - Serbia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a section of the Belgrade bypass road with a consortium of China's Power Construction Corporation (Powerchina) and Azerbaijan's civil engineering company Azvirt, Serbia's infrastructure ministry said.
The MoU covers the construction of the Bubanj Potok-Pancevo section of the bypass road, in which about 500 million euro ($557.3 million) will be invested, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The agreement was signed by Serbian infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic on the sidelines of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
"When it comes to the Belgrade bypass, we are currently building Section B with Powerchina and Azvirt, and the memorandum that we signed today is for Section C, from Bubanj Potok to Pancevo, and this is the first step in the continuation of the construction of the bypass road," Mihajlovic said.
The 21 km-long Section C is considered to be the most complex part of the project, as its construction involves building a bridge over the Danube, 11 viaducts and two tunnels.
In September, Serbia signed an agreement to receive a 207 million euro loan from the Chinese government for the construction of a 20.4 km-long section of the bypass road, linking the Ostruznica bridge on the Sava river to Bubanj Potok. The main contractor is a consortium of Powerchina and Azvirt.
($ = 0.896881 euro)