Serbia planning to borrow EUR 2.5 billion for Belgrade subway in 2026

In 2026, Serbia plans to borrow a total of EUR 2.5 billion for the Belgrade subway project for the first line alone from the French Treasury and from, as yet unnamed, “foreign investment corporations, banks and funds,” according to the budget proposal for next year, Forbes Serbia reported today.

As can be seen from the budget proposal, the state has been approved to borrow from the French Treasury in the amount of 17.5 billion dinars (EUR 150 million) in 2026 for the design and construction of the traffic system for Line 1, Phase 1 of the subway system.

It has also been given the opportunity to borrow from the French Treasury in the amount of 175.8 billion dinars (EUR 1.5 billion) for the subway construction project (Phase I).

Another subway-related loan of 99.6 billion dinars (EUR 850 million) is planned for “foreign investment corporations, funds and banks” for the design and construction of the transport system for Line 1, Phase 1 of the Belgrade subway system.

They remind that, in 2024, Serbia contracted a loan for the construction of the Makis depot (which is part of the Belgrade subway system) with Deutsche Bank (Hong Kong branch) in the amount of EUR 178.3 million.

According to the budget proposal, in 2026, the state plans to spend about 26 billion dinars on the Belgrade subway project, and the allocations for this project are planned within the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, writes Forbes.

In 2027, 77.8 billion dinars are expected to be spent on the Belgrade metro, and in 2028, 68.2 billion dinars.

It is stated that contracts have been signed for the construction works of the first phase, covering a length of about 15 kilometers, worth almost one billion euros, while the contract for the systems and trains is expected in the coming months.

The project for the second line will, as stated, be completed by the beginning of 2027, and the design of the third line has already begun this year.

It also states that two TBMs (tunnel boring machines), so-called “moles,” have already been ordered and their delivery to Belgrade is expected next year, which will begin the work on digging the tunnel.

As Forbes writes, the Belgrade subway project was entrusted, without a public tender, to the Chinese company PowerChina for construction works and the French company Alstom to deliver the train sets and build the electromechanical subsystems for phase 1 of line 1, phase 2 of line 1 and line 2.

The Egis website states that the French Treasury, based on an agreement between the governments of Serbia and France, has provided financing for part of the costs of the first phase of the Belgrade subway, and that all three subway lines will cost approximately seven billion euros, Forbes writes.

JKP Beogradski metro i voz Beograd

Alstom Holdings Beograd-obrisano iz registra

Egis d.o.o. Beograd-Stari Grad

Power Construction Corporation of China Limited Ogranak Beograd

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

French Treasury

PowerChina

Egis

Alstom

Beogradski metro i voz

Belgrade Metro and Train

subway constgruction

Belgrade subway