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The main reason for the visit of US partners and officials is the opening of the DFC regional office in Belgrade, through which the projects will be carried out, and detailed talks were announced on the continued financing of the main project envisaged by the agreement. from the Washington – Nis – Merdare – Pristina highway.
However, the talks will take place on “several fronts” starting tomorrow, will include various ministries and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and everything agreed at the White House in early September, when Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with US President Donald Trump, will be on the table. and its closest associates.
According to information from Tanjug, the project proposals to be submitted by Belgrade mainly concern the construction of roads and railways that will connect Belgrade and Pristina.
Only projects related to infrastructure are worth 3.7 billion euros, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure told Tanjug.
The Ministry, by the way, has prepared a concrete platform for the negotiations, which includes the connection with Pristina in a total of four roads in a length of 267 kilometers.
Photo: P. Milošević
These are projects for the construction of the Nis – Merdare – Pristina highway in the length of 100 kilometers, the Bujanovac – Konculj – Gjilan – Strpce highway of 78 kilometers, then the Raska – Jarinje – Kosovska Mitrovica expressway of 61 kilometers, as well such as the reconstruction of the Ribarice – Brnjak – Zubin Potok highway in the length of 28 kilometers.
It is estimated that between 2.18 and 2.73 billion euros will be needed for these road infrastructure projects.
The first section of the road to Pristina Nis-Merdare is 77 km long. The total estimated value of the construction of the full profile of the Nis-Merdare highway (six lanes) is 1,065 million euros, and the highway would be built in phases.
In a first phase, the construction of a semi-profile of the highway will be carried out, and the construction price from Nis to Merdar will amount to about 648 million euros, first the section from Nis to Plocnik worth 255 million euros, and then the second tranche from Plocnik to Merdar for an amount of 393 million euros. euros.
If the road is economically viable in terms of number of vehicles, the road profile will be built.
An EIB loan of € 100 million has already been obtained for the first section from Nis to Plocnik, as well as a grant of € 40.6 million from the Western Balkan Investment Framework (WBIF). In addition, the loan of 85 million euros from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is not yet listed and the rest will be financed from the budget of Serbia.
The Nis-Merdare-Pristina motorway is part of the basic indicative transport network of the EU. Corridor 10 and this highway will be connected near Nis and will allow Serbia to enter Albanian ports on the Adriatic Sea and better connect 500,000 people.
The length of the future Nis-Durres motorway is 383 kilometers.
The start of works on the Nis-Plocnik section, according to the current plan, is scheduled for mid-2021 at the latest.
Regarding the rail connection with Pristina, preparatory project activities are already underway with Chinese partners (CRBC) for the construction of the Belgrade-Nis high-speed railway over a length of 240 km, worth about 2,100 million euros.
The plan is to build the 87 km Doljevac – Kursumlija – Merdare railway, which requires about 980 million euros. Then Meradare-Pristina in the length of 43 km if a new railway is built in that part from Merdare-via Priluzje to Pristina (because there is no railway from the exit of the Merdare tunnel).
In addition, the Pristina-Polish Kosovo-General Jankovic-North Macedonia border railway of 70.8 km.
The existing railway route on the Belgrade-Lapovo-Niš-Doljevac-Kuršumlija-Priština route has a total length of 388 km.
Traffic is currently heading to Merdar as the administrative line tunnel collapsed in the NATO bombing. About 36 km of railroad, which was physically removed from the route, are missing at the exit of this tunnel near Merdar towards Pristina.
The new railway route from Belgrade to Pristina, which would go from the “breaking point” near Merdar through Priluzje to Pristina, is about 400 km long, and for its realization it is necessary to build a completely new line in the length of about 43 km from Merdar to Pristina.
By the way, Belgrade and Pristina committed to the Washington agreement to implement the Belgrade to Pristina road and rail agreements, which were signed on February 14 this year, as well as a joint feasibility study on options to connect the Belgrade-Pristina railway infrastructure with a port on the Adriatic Sea. It was also agreed that it would cooperate with DFC and American Exim Bank in carrying out these projects.
The agreement also envisages providing money to finance loans for small and medium-sized businesses, including one for the development of women’s entrepreneurship.
The deal also included a regional initiative by the Serbian president, the so-called Mini-Schengen, which Pristina previously refused to join, as well as the previously announced opening of a direct airline between Belgrade and Pristina.
The topic of conversation during the DFC visit will be cooperation with the United States Department of Energy in the preparation of a feasibility study for the joint use needs of the Gazivoda reservoir, as well as the diversification of the energy supply.
DFC, with a total budget of 60 billion dollars, of which much is expected to arrive in Serbia, has as its main objective to encourage private investment in developing countries, especially in the field of energy and infrastructure of the circular economy.
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