Construction of new bridge on Danube reaches milestone

Construction of new bridge on Danube reaches milestone

She added that all access roads, totaling 21.6 kilometers, will be completely built during 2015. The government and the contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation, will sign Annex 4 to their contract as early as next week, which provides for an additional payment of up to EUR 2.5 million for the works already completed, Mihajlović said.

Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang, who toured the site today along with the Serbian minister, said that he was confident that under the leadership of the current government, which he described as capable, hardworking and efficient, the bridge would be construction in time.

This is the first infrastructure project carried out by China and Serbia together, and I hope that more projects are to come, the ambassador said.

The works on the Zemun-Borča bridge began in late October 2011.

The new bridge across the Danube will be 1,507 meters long, 29.1 meters wide and 22.8 meters high, with a total of six lanes and pedestrian and bicycle lanes on both sides.

The total cost of the bridge construction together with the access roads is about USD 260 million, 85 percent of which is provided by China's Exim Bank, while the remaining 15 percent is given by the Serbian government and the City of Belgrade.

After the bridge is opened, cargo traffic coming from the northern Serbian region of Banat will no longer go through downtown Belgrade, and the bridge will be a link to Corridors 10 and 11.

This will be the second bridge over the Danube in Belgrade, and the city's urban construction plan provides for building another at Vinča, and one over Ada Huja in the future.