Serbian Railways Company, Belgrade City To Replace Energoprojekt as Investors in 100 Mln Euro Train Station Project

It has now been decided that the state, as the owner of Zeleznice Srbije, and Belgrade city will be the sole owners of the new railway station and its commercial area, an official of Zeleznice Srbije's media centre who declined to be named told SeeNews on Monday. He added that Energoprojekt will most likely be the contractor of the construction works.

The new agreement comes after the railways operator and Energoprojekt signed in March a deal for the construction of the station. Back then Energoprojekt estimated its investments in the railway station and its commercial facilities at 230 million euro.

Under the earlier contract, Energoprojekt was to be the investor of the whole project, upon whose delivery the company would gain ownership over the commercial area and the railway operator would become the owner of all the other facilities, the official said.

“We have now signed a protocol on the continuation of the works, which only determines the way of financing. Energoprojekt is no longer the investor, instead, it is the state and the Belgrade city [that will finance the project],” the official added.

The new Belgrade railway station will be completed in a year and a half as the investments in it and in the adjacent road infrastructure, totalling some 100 million euro, will be made by Zeleznice Srbije and the Belgrade city, Infrastructure Minister Milutin Mrkonjic said in a statement posted on the website of the railway operator.

The planned funding does not include the money needed for the construction of the commercial area, the official said.

The railways operator will fund the construction of the train station building, while the Belgrade city will provide the funds for the construction of the planned road infrastructure.

Energoprojekt is a component of the blue-chip index of the Belgrade bourse. Its shares closed at 910 dinars ($15/11 euro) on Tuesday, up 9.51% from the previous close.

(1 euro= 81.1199 dinars)