BELGRADE (Serbia), December 30 (SeeNews) – Serbia’s state-owned railways operator Zeleznice Srbije said it will cut its 2009 loss by 1.0 billion dinars ($14.8 million/10.4 million euro) to between 5.5 billion and 6.0 billion dinars, local media reported on Wednesday.
The company plans to borrow 150 million euro ($214.1 million) from the European Investment Bank next year, 120 million euro from Czech Export Bank and 45 million euro from Germany’s government, Belgrade-based broadcaster b92 (www.b92.net) quoted Zeleznice Srbije CEO Milovan Markovic as saying. He did not elaborate on the destination of the loans.
Zeleznice Srbije will also borrow 10 million euro from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and 37 million euro from the Spanish government in 2010, Markovic added.
The railways operator will also ask for a 100 million Swiss franc loan from The European Company for the Financing of Railroad Rolling Stock next year.
Zeleznice Srbije is currently negotiating a 600 million euro loan from Russia’s government, which would be used to fund the construction of the Belgrade railway junction and the Prokop railway station, Markovic said. The loan would also fund the construction of the Valjevo-Loznica railway section in western Serbia and the construction of a railway section between Nis, in the south, and Dimitrovgrad, on the border with Bulgaria.
(1 euro=96.3745 Serbian dinars)