Serbian companies to carry out works on railroads - Railway modernization supported by Russian loan starts in September

Works on the construction of the new and reconstruction of existing track at the Belgrade – Pancevo railroad, as well as restoration of six sections of railway at Corridor 10 will begin in September, Sergei Alexeyevich Pavlov, General Manager of the Russian state-owned railways International announced on Tuesday (May 21, 2013).

This is the first out of five projects supported by the Russian loan of USD 800 mil. Signing the umbrella contract on construction works between the Russian and Serbian Railways is due Thursday in the Government of Serbia.

As Pavlov stressed out, signing of the umbrella contract will be followed by signing of an annex for each project separately by 15 June for Pancevo railroad, in July for six sections of Corridor 10, in August for delivery of Russian diesel trains and by the end of the year for the restoration of the Bar railway and the Stara Pazova - Novi Sad section.

- In line with the terms of the loan, Russian companies will carry out majority of work, but we have already done preliminary talks with Serbian companies which could be hired in this project – Pavlov says.

- As the main contractor, we will hire Serbian companies, but we must stick to the procedure, i.e. to launch a tender. For us, Serbian companies are particularly important. With the implementation of this loan of USD 800 mil, Serbia will get higher speed tracks and security will be raised to a higher level. For Serbian railways modernization, we will use our technology. As of September, when the works start, there is a period of five years to complete the entire job for all five projects supported by the Russian loan.