From (Announcements of) Construction of Highways, to Breaking of Deadlines, through Instagram – 2023 Retrospective, Investments in Transportation

It is important for highways to be built, and it is even more important for announcements of the building of highways to be made – that’s how we could briefly sum up the most read news about investments in the field of transportation on our portal in the past year.

Last year was marked by construction, but also announcements of the construction of highways, the same sections whose construction had been announced in the previous years too, without being realized, for various reasons. Deadlines were broken, then extended, we read news about hard work, but also complaints about difficult terrains, and the officials also announced important news on Instagram.

The construction of new traffic routes is announced for the year ahead of us, and whether the rule – announce, postpone, announce again – proves to be true remains to be seen in the upcoming retrospectives.

Until then, we bring you the list of investments in transportation in 2023 which our readers found the most interesting.

1. Morava Corridor

The construction of the Morava Corridor, the first digital highway in Serbia, began at the end of 2019, and the first section, from Pojate to Makresane, 16.8 kilometers long, was opened at the end of April, 2023.

This highway, with a total length of 112 kilometers, connects the Raska, Rasina and Moravica districts, that is, half a million people in central Serbia, so it’s no wonder that the news of the investment worth around EUR 800 million placed first on our list.

The completion of the works on the Morava Corridor is planned for 2025, the works are carried out by the American-Turkish consortium Bechtel and Enka, whereas the investor is the PE Corridors of Serbia.

In August last year, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure announced the early public inspection on the occasion of the amendments to the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area of the Infrastructure Corridor of Highway E-761, Section Pojate-Preljina.

This pertains to the second phase, which entails changes to the de-leveled crossings Preljina, Vrba, Vrnjacka Banja, Trstenik, the bridge on the West Morava – Mojsinje, additional canals for the system of drainage outlets of the highway, the establishment of a canal for the river Slatina and the bridge on the West Morava near Mrcajevci.

2. Preljina-Pozega Highway

Those whose final destination is western Serbia are eagerly awaiting the completion of the Pakovrace-Pozega section, whose completion has been postponed several times.

In October, the PE Roads of Serbia announced the then current state of the works on the construction of the Milos Veliki highway (E-763), section Pakovrace-Pozega. According to the website of the Roads of Serbia, the section passes through a very difficult geographic terrain, which requires the construction of numerous bridges and tunnels.

On the Preljina interchange, the Milos Veliki highway will be connected with the Morava Corridor, that is, the future highway E-761, Preljina-Pojate, through which it will also be connected with the highway E-75, Belgrade-Nis.

In February 2023, the agreement was extended until June 30, 2024, for the consortium of companies which had been hired for this job in August 2019, when the construction of the section started (Gradjevinski institut Centralna putna laboratorija doo Veternik, Makspro doo Zemun, Adomne doo Novi Sad and ABA professional doo Beograd).

In August 2023, Demostat announced that the Preljina-Pozega highway section will not be finished by the end of the year and that “it’s highly questionable whether the new road will open to traffic even in 2024, given that the works are very late.”

3. South Banat Highway from Pancevo through Vrsac to Romanian Border

At the end of last year, the PE Roads of Serbia opened the tender for the preparation of the preliminary design with a feasibility study of the highway E-70, section Pancevo-Vrsac-Romanian border.

The spatial plan of the special-purpose area of this section shows the route of this future shortest connection with Romania, which has been announced for over 15 years now. The length of the planned highway from Pancevo to the Romanian border would amount to around 65 km.

– In the road network system of Serbia, this road route is the main connection on the east-west stretch, which connects Vojvodina and Belgrade, central and northern parts of Serbia, whereas the extension of this state road east of Pancevo toward Vrsac and westward to Belgrade, is an important link to Romania, that is, the international highway E-75 – it is said in the plan prepared by the Institute of Urban Planning of Vojvodina.

It is also pointed out that the construction of the highway through South Banat will directly contribute to a faster development of Pancevo, Vrsac, Alibunar, Kovin and Plandiste, which are directly related to this corridor.

4. Belgrade-Zrenjanin-Novi Sad Highway

In mid-October, in China, the agreement on the construction of the highway between Belgrade, Zrenjanin and Novi Sad, which will be 105 kilometers long, was signed. The minister of construction, transport and infrastructure, Goran Vesic, had pointed out that the planning of that highway was being completed and the works were expected to start the next year. He said at the time that “Novi Sad will thereby be connected to the third highway, making the city very well connected in terms of traffic.”

In December, the minister announced on his Instagram profile that the clearing of the terrain on which the highway from Belgrade through Zrenjanin to Novi Sad was to be built had officially begun. However, the competent minister did not provide any additional information in this post, not even how long the clearing is supposed to take, or any other deadlines.

The construction of the Belgrade-Zrenjanin-Novi Sad highway, which has been pronounced a project of special importance for the Republic of Serbia, was first announced for 2019, then for 2020, then for 2021, and then for February 2022. Subsequently, it was prolonged until 2024.

5. Kraljevo-Novi Pazar Fast Route

The Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure announced, in June, the early public inspection on the occasion of the preparation of the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area of the infrastructure corridor of the IB-grade fast route Kraljevo-Raska-Novi Pazar.

It was proposed for the rough area of the plan to encompass parts of the territories of the cities of Kraljevo and Novi Pazar, as well as parts of the municipality of Raska.

The spatial plan will encompass the corridor of the planned fast route Kraljevo-Novi Pazar, around 83.4 km long and 50 to 300 m wide. The entire fast route is designed for speeds of 80 to 100 km/h.

In March, the State Audit Commission adopted the general project of the fast route from Kraljevo to Novi Pazar, which is the first step toward the construction of this road, as stated by the minister of construction, transport and infrastructure of Serbia, Goran Vesic. He explained that, after the adoption of that document, the preparation of the preliminary design and approval planning was to follow, for which the PE Roads of Serbia had selected the planner, and that, given enough money, the road could start being built in 2024.

The minister said that the estimated value of the construction was RSD 18 million per kilometer, but that the final price would be determined at the tender.

6. BG Subway

The news about the construction of the long-awaited Belgrade Subway took the not-so-high sixth place on our list. The end of the year was marked by the news that, for the purposes of the construction of the first phase of the first line of the Belgrade Subway, a total of 13 residential and 47 business facilities would be demolished in the territory of four Belgrade municipalities – Cukarica, Savski Venac, Stari Grad and Palilula, according to the project task which had been published by the PUC Belgrade Metro and Train within the tender for the preparation of the action plan of the moving for the first phase of Line 1 of the Belgrade Subway.

It had previously been announced that Phase 1 of Line 1 encompassed the route to the “Pancevo Bridge” station, that is, one station after the “Danube” station.

In September, the Agreement on the Design and Construction of the Makis Depot, which is a necessary infrastructure facility within the construction of the Belgrade Subway, wort a total of EUR 200 million. In August, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, announced that the first line of the Belgrade Subway should be completed by 2028.

7. Ruma-Sabac Highway and Sabac-Loznica Fast Route

Last year was also marked by the construction of the Ruma-Sabac highway. The 22-km-long route and the bridge on the Sava opened to traffic in October. The route features a total of 14 bridge structures, plan an access bridge structure and the bridge on the river Sava.

The completion of the fast route to Loznica was announced for 2024. On the route of the Sabac-Loznica road, the plan is to expand the Drenovac interchange, and de-leveled intersections and roundabouts are planned within the section.

In June, the Government of Serbia adopted the Bill on borrowing of the Republic of Serbia from Banca Intesa AD Beograd for the purposes of financing the project of the construction of the Ruma-Sabac-Loznica traffic route. This is a long-term investment loan of RSD 15 billion (around EUR 130 million), whose value will be paid out in the local currency.

8. Djerdap Corridor

In March, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia put the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area of the infrastructure corridor of IB-grade fast routes Golubac-Donji Milanovac-Brza Palanka and Kladovo-Negotin up for early public inspection.

This corridor, also called the Djerdap Corridor, is a continuation of the Danube Corridor, which will stretch from the Pozarevac Interchange to Golubac.

It will cover the territories of the municipalities of Golubac, Majdanpek, Kladovo and Negotin and stretch from the planned connection with the Danube Corridor near Golubac, eastward through the Djerdap Gorge to Donji Milanovac, where it exits the gorge and goes to Brza Palanka, from where it forks toward Kladovo and Negotin.

The length of the fast route from Golubac to Brza Palanka will be around 89.32 km, to Kladovo and Negotin 54.22 km, and the total length of the corridor will be 143.54 km, according to the plan.

9. Vojvodina Smile Fast Route

The works on the construction of the first section of the fast route from the Hungarian border to Srpska Crnja – border crossing with Romania, also known as the “Vojvodina Smile” began in December last year in Backi Breg.

The traffic route known as the “Vojvodina Smile” will be 164 km long and have 11 interchanges and 12 surface intersections, we learned from the Spatial Plan which was published in October by the Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection.

The “Vojvodina Smile” will connect the east and west parts of the Province, as well as the neighboring countries of Romania and Hungary and, at the same time, be part of pan-European corridors. In five years, we should be able to drive down this route, and the value of the works has been estimated at EUR 1.5 billion.

The traffic route is designed for vehicle speeds of up to 100 km/h, in four driving lanes 3.5 meters wide each.

In February, the president of the Provincial Government, Igor Mirovic, announced that the plan was for the construction to begin in the first half of 2023 and to last for the next two to three years.

10. Ring Road Around Belgrade – Bubanj Potok-Pancevo Section

By March 2024, all the conditions for the beginning of the construction of the final part of the ring road around Belgrade, from Bubanj Potok to Pancevo, will be met – announced the minister of construction, transport and infrastructure of Serbia, Goran Vesic, in March 2023, while visiting the site of the construction of the ring road around Belgrade, at the Avala interchange.

Until then, the project will be completed and the building permit will be issued, the minister said and noted that the ring road had been built for over 30 years.

According to him, upon the completion of that final part, Belgrade will also get a rail ring route, so all the rail cargo traffic whose final destination is not the capital city will be moved from the center of Belgrade.

We have presented the list of the most read news in the field of investments in transportation, the full contents of which you can view HERE.

Koridori Srbije d.o.o. Beograd

Bechtel ENKA UK Limited Ogranak Beograd

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

JP Putevi Srbije Beograd

JP Zavod za urbanizam Vojvodine Novi Sad

JKP Beogradski metro i voz Beograd

Centralna putna laboratorija d.o.o. Veternik

Makspro d.o.o. Beograd

Adomne doo Novi Sad

Aba professional doo Beograd

Bechtel

Enka

Goran Vesić

Aleksandar Vučić

Igor Mirović

Pakovraće Požega section

investments in transportation

Morava Corridor

digital highway

Preljina Požega highway

Miloš Veliki highway

highway E70

South Banat highway

Belgrade Zrenjanin Novi Sad highway

Kraljevo Novi Pazar fast route

Belgrade Subway

Ruma Šabac highway

Šabac Loznica fast route

Đerdap Corridor

Danube Corridor

Vojvodina Smile

ring road around Belgrade