January 3 (SeeNews) - Serbia's economy ministry has invested 1.99 billion dinars ($20.2 million/16.8 million euro) in infrastructure projects carried out by local governments in 2017, Dragan Stevanovic, state secretary at the ministry, said.
The economy ministry co-financed 153 infrastructure projects with a total value of 4.47 billion dinars last year, Stevanovic said in a statement on Tuesday.
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"Our goal is to continue supporting the construction of local infrastructure this year, in order to contribute to a more balanced development of Serbia," he noted.
The ministry invested 1.42 billion dinars in the development of regional and local infrastructure plus 570 million dinars in 54 projects for the upgrade of economic zones. In addition, it invested 107.5 million dinars into the preparation of project documentation, Stevanovic said.
The number of permits for infrastructure projects such as railroads, roads, bridges, motorways and airport runways rose by 40% on the year in the first 10 months of 2017, according to data published by Serbia's statistical office.
(1 euro = 118.667 dinars)