Chinese didn't withdraw from concession deal - minister

Chinese didn't withdraw from concession deal - minister

"We opted for concession and we have foreign and local consultants elected through a public call and they have defined the profitability of individual sections," Mihajlovic said on Monday and added that the process to issue the concession has been launched and this is the first but not the final stage. The minister noted that in two or three weeks' time, the report on the talks with Chinese companies could be prepared.

The subject of concession was the construction and maintenance of the section of the highway from Surcin to Obrenovac to the total length of 17.6 kilometers and the section from Preljina to Pozega to the length of 30.9 kilometers, as well as the management, maintenance and usage of the Obrenovac-Preljina section to the total length of 103 kilometers.

The two Chinese companies, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and Shangong High-speed Group completed the prequalification procedure and the deadline for submission of concession bids ended on February 5.

Mihajlovic told reporters in the government that the Commission would continue the work regardless of the fact that Chinese companies have not officially submitted their bids since they filed only letters in which they requested modifications.

They have the greatest number of problems in traffic frequency and are asking for certain additional guarantees, Mihajlovic said and added that the talks will be conducted and the government will assume the stand on the platform of the talks.

Nobody renounced the concession, this is only the first stage, Mihajlovic said.

The Ministry will not issue new calls and it could have a report on the talks with Chinese companies in two or three weeks' time so that it would be known just how much progress was achieved on the matter, the minister said.

Shangong High-speed Group is already participating in the construction of the highway on the sections from Obrenovac to Ub to the total length of 26.23 kilometers and the section from Lajkovac to Ljig to the total length of 24 kilometers, and the realization of the projects is being funded through a loan.

The Ljig-Preljina highway section to the total length of 40 kilometers is being built by Azerbaijani company AzVirt and the project is funded from a loan granted by Azerbaijan and it should be completed in 2016.

The highway section from Belgrade to the section with Montenegro to the total length of 270 kilometers should be realized as part of highway E 763, the so-called Corridor 11 from Timisoara in Romania to Montenegrin port of Bar via Vrsac, Belgrade, Cacak, Pozega and Podgorica, and from there on across the Adriatic Sea to Bari in Italy.