Highway between the Baltic and Greece to bypass Serbia - Is Via Carpatia good or bad for Serbia?

The plan that the travel across East Europe, from the north to the south, be shortened with the construction of a big European highway has recently started gaining the momentum. Due to exceptional importance of this route, eKapija has collected some details that can provide answers about good and bad effects of the new corridor on Corridor 10 and other planned highways through Serbia.

You can draw conclusions by yourselves.

1. The project for construction of an international highway across eastern part of the European Union, called Initiative Via Carpatia, was joined on October 22, 2010, by three more countries: Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, it was announced at the meeting of the ministers of transport and infrastructure in Polish city of Lancut.

2. The plan to shorten the travel from the north to the south of Europe was initiated in 2006 by Poland, and the project was then joined by Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary, Associated Press (AP) quoted.

3. The highway, of which construction is partially financed from the EU funds, will connect the countries on the coast of the Baltic Sea in the northeast of Europe with the Black Sea region and Greece in the south of the continent, and it will also go across some of the least developed territories of the Union.

4. The Via Carpatia project is planned to be finished in 2020. Poland has already invested 7.4 billion dollars in the construction of its section 800 kilometers long, certain parts of which have already been completed.

5. Lithuania has already built major share of its section, while Hungary has completed half of the roads on its territory. Slovakia is going to finish the third of its highway section by the end of 2010.

6. The new highway is bypassing Serbia, and our country will be connected with Via Carpatia via Corridor 11 in Romania, near Timisoara, and via Nis-Dimitrovgrad-Sofia route of Corridor 10.

7. The route will go from Lithuania (Kaunas) to Poland (Bialystok - Lublin – Rzeszow), Slovakia (Presov-Koszice) and Hungary (Miskolc – Debrecen).

On the territory of Romania, the route will go in two directions: towards the Port of Constanta (Oradea - Arad - Timisoara - Lugoj - Deva - Sibiu - Pitesti - Bucharest – Constanta), and towards the Bulgarian border (via future Calafat-Vidin bridge across the Danube).

Also, by reaching the Black Sea, via ports of Constanta and Burgas (Bulgaria), the new corridor will also be connected with TRACEA corridor, which represents a big transit potential for Via Carpatia. Going alongside the eastern border of the EU, Via Carpatia is expected to become an alternative route from central Europe to Asia.

8. The highway section through Bulgaria will have the same route as Corridor 4, which goes from Sofia in two directions: towards the port of Salonika in Greece and towards Istanbul. Via Carpatia is also expected to go toward the ports at the Black Sea, which will enable connection with TRACEA corridor.

9. It is expected that the bridge that should connect Vidin and Kalafat be finished in 2011-2012, after a decade-long postponement of its construction.

10. Direct approach via the Black Sea to TRACEA, central Asia and the Far East will represent a real alternative to connecting Europe and Asia without going across the territory of Russia, and it will also enable direct benefit from the growing European-Asian trade.

11. Construction of Via Carpatia will also provide the shortest connection between the Baltic and the Balkan countries. Modernization of the transport route from the Baltic countries to the Balkans, according to TEN-T parameters, should enable quicker economic development and cooperation in eastern parts of the EU.

12. The declaration of understanding has been signed with the aim of including Via Carpatia corridor in Trans-European Transport Network (TENT), the network of transport roads financed by the EU. The intention of this project is also to stimulate economic development and cooperation between the least developed regions in eastern parts of the EU.

13. For the TEN-T program for the period 2007-2013, the EU has granted 8 billion euros in order to stimulate studies and works that contribute to the aims of the TEN-T program.