The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) has allocated 44.4 million Euros in grants to Serbia for traffic projects, the Ministry of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure is reported to have said in a statement on Friday.

The statement said that the bulk of the money is an investment grant of 40.6 million Euros for the construction of the first section of the Nis-Merdare-Pristina highway between the southern city of Nis and the village of Plocnik in the Prokuplje municipality.

The total value of that 33 kilometre section of highway is 212 million Euros, the statement said and added that the rest of the money will be secured in the form of loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The remaining 3.8 million Euros in WBIF funding has been set aside to draw up the documentation for water and rail traffic projects, including the reconstruction of the part of the Belgrade-Zagreb railway line inside Serbia. Three million of that amount is earmarked to finance a feasibility study, draw up the project and make strategic assessments of environmental impace for the Belgrade-Sid-state border section and the Stara Pazova-Golubinci-Sid and Indjija-Golubinci sections.

The remaining 800,000 Euro will be used to finance a feasibility study and project solutions for the construction of the port of Belgrade on the Rhine-Danube corridor.