Serbia’s Minister of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure Zoran Mihajlovic signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a 100 million worth loan and another one on aid of 40.6 million Euros for the construction of a motorway linking Serbia’s southern city of Nis to Kosovo’s capital Pristina, the Beta news agency reported.
Serbian Construction and Infrastructure Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Monday that a contract to build a highway between Nis and Pristina would be signed with the European Investment Bank (EIB) later this week, TV N1 reports.
She said that the contract to build the highway between Nis (via Merdare crossing) and Pristina would be signed on Thursday in Belgrade during the visit of European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc who will open the offices of the Transport Community in Serbia on Friday.
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.
Aleksandar Vucic has told Angela Merkel he believes the Regional Economic Zone and the Nis-Pristina highway is of great importance to the Western Balkans.
The Serbian president Vucic asked the German chancellor Merkel to use her reputation and authority to speed up the realization of these two projects, Tanjug reported.
The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic states that the Government of Serbia could consider announcing a public invitation for the construction of the highway Nis-Merdare-Pristina by the end of the year.
The Minister told the Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS) that Serbia had completed the necessary documentation and that the investment in that road, also called "Peace Road", amounted 200 million euros.
Works to build the first section of the Nis-Merdare-Pristina highway - from Nis to Plocnik - will begin next year, B92 reported.
This is according to a plan of the Serbian Government and the European Investment banks (EIB), Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic said on Wednesday.
According to the Serbian Government, Mihajlovic said this as she met with Director of the EIB for the Western Balkans Dubravka Negre, and "pointed out the importance of the so-called highway of peace."