Serbian shortcuts to Europe - What will be build for about 22 billion euros according to Transport Master Plan?

Serbia knows the quickest way to Europe. For itself and Europe, it will be building main routes – road, railway, air and water corridors. Total of 22 billion euros from the budget, the European pre-accession and accession funds, and the loans of the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank and other finance institutions, will be invested in construction and maintenance of traffic infrastructure prior to 2027. The Transport Master Plan has been made with the help of the EU, the National Infrastructure Council adopted it last Friday, while Serbian Minister for Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjić, his associates, and Vincent Degert, the Head of Delegation of the European Union in Serbia, presented it yesterday (June 24, 2010) at the Palace of Serbia to the representatives of the World Bank, the EBRD, the ambassadors of the EU countries, and other high officials.

The plan is that €13.7 billion be invested in the construction and development of the road network, €7.5 billion in the railway network, €475 million in inland waterways, €376 million in air traffic and €136 million in mixed transport.

– We are creating conditions for Serbia to become an European country by becoming a part of European traffic network – said Mrkonjić. – We now know what to do and what to build in Serbia. Five tendering procedures for Corridor 10 are underway, three of which for road corridor and two for railway corridor. I am inviting companies from the European Union to take more significant part in the development of these projects.

Head of Delegation of the European Union in Serbia Vincent Degert said that the Master Plan included the projects whose implementation over the next two decades would make Serbia one of the "main traffic arteries" in that part of Europe. He said that Serbia needed investments for economic development, that the Master Plan contained clear priorities, which would provide higher level of security and predictability to investors. He emphasized that the EU would help Serbia implement the Master Plan in order to become a part of the European family as soon as possible.

(Overall Project Ranking)

In addition to the completion of highway on the northern branch of Corridor 10, between Horgos and Novi Sad, construction of Pojate-Preljina and Kragujevac-Batocina motorways is also on the top of the list of priorities, which includes 33 projects.

Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Dejan Lasica confirmed that, under the Master Plan, approximately €8.5 billion would be invested in the road network in Serbia and about €5.2 billion in maintenance. Top priority project in the construction of railways is the railway between Stara Pazova and Subotica, while the negotiations with the EIB on financing of the construction of 45-kilometer section to Novi Sad are close to end. He said that approximately €120 million should be invested in development of combined transport in Serbia, including €20 million for construction of a new terminal in the vicinity of Belgrade. Lasica added that terminals for combined transport were planned to be built in Novi Sad and Nis as well.

State Secretary for Air Transport at the Ministry of Infrastructure Miodrag Miljkovic stressed the need to invest approximately €135 million in Belgrade and Nis airports in order to increase the number of passengers in air traffic in Serbia from current 2.5 million to 8 million on annual basis. What is also in the pipeline is development of the regional network of airports.

By the way, the fourth most important project is the investment in airports in Belgrade and Nis, the fifth is the project in the area of railway transport, that is, the investment in Stara Pazova - Subotica railway, while the priority project in river traffic is the Danube river or European Corridor 7, which is 11th on the list of priorities.

Other priority projects are construction of Belgrade-Pozega motorway on Corridor 11, which should connect Serbia with Romania and Montenegro, construction of high-speed road Novi Sad – Ruma – Šabac – Loznica, the railway between Velika Plana and Stalac, Djunis - Trupale near Nis, and Stara Pazova - Sid.

When it comes to the combined transport, the Master Plan envisages construction of three logistics centers of different sizes and characteristics in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. The terminal in the capital city may be built in the Makis field, between "Beograd – Ranžirna" station and Belgrade – Obrenovac road.

(Note: complete text is taken over from newspaper Politika of June 25, 2010)