BELGRADE (Serbia), July 2 (SeeNews) – Serbia's infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said she expects the China-funded overhaul of the Novi Sad-Subotica section of the railway line linking Belgrade with Hungary's capital Budapest to start in 2019.
The Serbian government will sign a contract with China on the project's financial terms during the 16+1 summit in July, Mihajlovic said in video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Saturday.
China, Serbia and Hungary signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the reconstruction of the 370 km Belgrade-Budapest railway line in December 2014. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said last month.
Moreover, the government expects to sign a MoU with China for the overhaul of Belgrade-Nis and Nis-Presevo railway sections of Corridor X and start the project in the middle of next year, Mihajlovic said in the video file.
In April, the infrastructure ministry said it plans to invest a total of 600 million euro ($697.7 million) in the overhaul of the Belgrade-Nis railway line and 254.4 million euro into the rail line linking Nis to Presevo.
On July 6 and 7, Bulgaria's capital Sofia will host the seventh summit of heads of government of China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), also known as the 16+1 mechanism.
($ = 0.8599 euro)