Demolition of Old Sava Bridge and Construction of New One Increasingly Likely – Belgrade Opens Tender for Supervision Over Works, Contractor from China Doing Approval Planning

The Belgrade Land Development Public Agency has opened the tender for the FIDIC engineer and supervision over the execution of the works on the construction of a new bridge on the Sava, in the location of the Old Sava Bridge, and the value of the procurement has been estimated at RSD 179 million, without the VAT.

According to the project task, which is part of the tendering documentation, on March 4, 2021, the Ministry of Construction and the Belgrade Land Development Public Agency signed the Agreement on Cooperation in Relation with the Realization and Financing of Exploratory and Planning Works with the Chinese company PowerChina as the contractor.

This agreement, among other things, envisages for the Chinese company, as the contractor, to take on the obligation of pre-financing the exploratory and planning works for the purpose of approval planning and the preparation of the main design of the new bridge, whereas the obligation of the Belgrade Land Development Public Agency is to secure the FIDIC engineer and supervision over the execution of the works.

Approval planning, in addition to the approval planning of the new bridge on the Sava, also includes the approval planning of access routes in New Belgrade and Savski Venac, as well as approval planning for the demolition of the existing bridge.

The obligations of the FIDIC engineer will entail the all-encompassing coordination of the project, the cost estimate, the inspection of the quality of the works. Also, the obligation of the future supervisor will be to check and authorize the approval planning, the main design, as well as other projects and studies required for the execution of the works.

What the new Sava bridge will look like

The project says that the statical system of the new bridge will entail a double steel arch and that the steel structure will rest on six reinforced concrete columns, two of which in the river. The planned height of the river columns is 23 m and 15 m. Based on the existing exploratory works, the implementation of deep foundation engineering is planned.

The road profile on the bridge entails two driving lanes of 6.5 m, a tram corridor in the middle, 8 m wide, and sidewalks on each side, 3.3 m wide and including bicycle lanes.

Two elevators for the transport of passengers are planned, and, as said, an elevator type without the engine room, with a load-bearing capacity of 1,000 kg, that is, 13 people, has been selected.

On the Belgrade side, the space beneath the new bridge is directly connected with the Sava Promenade, so it is also planned to be formed as part of that unit. On the other side, in New Belgrade, the space beneath the bridge is part of the old Sava promenade, which, according to the project, is yet to be re-developed.

The annex to the bid, signed with the contractor, agrees the deadline period for the completion of the works of three years from the date of the beginning of the works, whereas the guarantee period is two years.

The provision of the services of FIDIC engineer and supervision begins from the moment the contractor completes the approval planning for the demolition of the Old Sava Bridge and the approval planning for the new bridge on the Sava and the approval planning of the access route and when it is approved by the technical control.

Bids and application may be sent by June 7, 2023.

Let us remind that the Institute of Transportation CIP prepared the preliminary design of the new bridge.

– The contest took place in 2017 and we won. The next phase of the project followed, which is the preparation of the preliminary design, which was handed over to the Review Commission of the Republic of Serbia on June 30, 2019, in line with the agreement. Once the commission approves the preliminary project, we will start preparing the main project, that is, the project for the construction permit and the execution of works. The plan is for the contractor to be selected in late 2019 and for it to prepare the project and start building in early 2020 – Dejan Srejic, the leading engineering designer at CIP and one of the authors of the preliminary design, told eKapija at the time.

The fate of the Old Sava Bridge

There have been various scenarios for the fate of the old bridge on the Sava – from moving the bridge to the Usce park, through preserving the bridge in several parts, to mentioning Palilula as the new destination.

In 2019, the city authorities carried out an anonymous survey with the intention of deciding on the fate of the Old Sava Bridge. According to that survey, the citizens voted for the Old Sava Bridge to be moved to the Usce park.

Let us remind that, in February, the mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic, announced that the disassembly of the Old Sava Bridge should begin in June.

Also, at the beginning of the year, the workers and the machinery of the company hired by the city started demolishing the large halls of a former giant, the Rade Concar car service in New Belgrade, so that the location would feature a traffic route and a roundabout connecting the new Sava bridge with this municipality in the future.

I. Zikic

JP Direkcija za građevinsko zemljište i izgradnju Beograda

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Power Construction Corporation of China Limited Ogranak Beograd

Old Sava Bridge

new bridge on the Sava

new Sava bridge

construction of new Sava bridge

demolition of old Sava bridge

FIDIC engineer

supervision over execution of works on construction of new Sava bridge