New Belgrade-Surčin section of highway opened: This will be the new city center VIDEO

New Belgrade-Surčin section of highway opened: This will be the new city center VIDEO

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić attended the opening ceremony of the New Belgrade - Surčin section of the "Miloš the Great" highway.

Vučić pointed out that the number of accidents on the road to Čačak has decreased since the Miloš the Great highway was opened.

"We have big openings coming up. We expect big signings, we're going to make big new investments and roads, because you can't get significant support from the outside for that," announced Vučić.

"We will receive 300 to 500 million for local roads. We are opening the road from Ćićevac to Kruševac in 20 days. The Ruma-Šabac road is especially important. We hope that this year we will also finish Pakovraće-Požega, and soon after that Kuzmin - Sremska Rača. We are building a ring road around Milanovac. We are going to sign for a ring road around Kragujevac and negotiate for a "smiley" that would connect the Romanian and Hungarian borders," said the president. "We build in proportion to our size the most high-speed roads in all of Europe, and I'm not even sure that it's only proportional to our size. An old Chinese proverb says, "If you want to be rich, build roads first". Roads are the ones that bring you advantage, happiness and progress. Roads are what bring investors, without roads no one will come," said Vučić.

He also pointed out that the Bubanj potok section will be open by June.

Regarding the New Belgrade-Surčin ring road, he says that everyone will go this way:

"For some, this shortens the journey to Čačak by 20 minutes. It's not a small matter," says Vučić.

"Right next to this road, the National Stadium will soon be built, which will be a development project for this part of the city, there will be a new fair right next to it, this will be a completely new city center, the airport is close by," said Vučić.

He pointed out that when a country builds, GDP grows, and that means you can increase salaries and pensions. As he says, according to the latest data, the public debt today is 51.5 percent, which is better than more than 92 percent of the EU countries.

"I also congratulate Minister Mali, according to the budget projection, we should have had a deficit of 74.9 billion as of March 31, and according to official data from last night, we have a deficit of 28.6 billion, some 245 million euros. A better result than we ourselves predicted and the National Assembly accepted. The IMF would improve our forecast, and I am not in a hurry to do so, so I will meet with them when I return from Verona. I want us to invest that money and try to make a contract this year for the bypass around Kragujevac, which is very important, and to start a big investment in the north of Vojvodina", said Vučić.

The president stated that the Surčin - New Belgrade section will be open for passenger traffic from 9 p.m. tonight. He points out that there are both pedestrian and bicycle paths.

"What does this section mean? It is the lifeblood of Belgrade. All this has been done, the bicycle path, lighting... You can use everything tonight from 9 p.m. We are opening the traffic already today. People can already get to Belgrade faster today and vice versa. The roundabout will have to be widened here, because it will soon be a bottleneck for us. Whenever you build something, there is the next big goal, the next dream, a race against time to catch up and fight on," he said.

"Soon we will open the highway to Kruševac, the bypass around Belgrade to Bubanj potok, and then to sign the contract from Bubanj potok via Leštane and Vinča, across the Danube to Pancevo, only then will we finish the complete bypass. Then we will go to Toplica, and hopefully before the end of the year, let's open the section to Požega, which is the lifeline and lifeblood of the entire Zlatibor region," Vučić hinted.

He also said that the interchange for Jakovo will be built in a month, which is of great importance for Serbia. He also pointed out that citizens' incomes will be higher.

"Remember my words, in 2025 the average salary in Serbia will be 1,000 euros, and the average pension will be more than 400 euros," said Vučić. The section New Belgrade - Surčin, about eight kilometers long, will be the fastest connection of that part of Belgrade, especially Zemun, with the Miloš the Great highway.

Construction began at the end of March 2021, and with that road, which has a bicycle path and a sidewalk for pedestrians, the exit to the "Miloš the Great" highway will be shortened by about 10 kilometers, because they will no longer have to go via the Belgrade-Zagreb highway.

The commercial contract for the section New Belgrade - Surčin was signed with the company "China Communications Construction Company", and its value is 70.5 million euros.

That section of the highway "Miloš the Great" was very demanding in terms of construction, because it passes through a populated area. Drivers will be able to join from Vojvodjanska Street and Jurija Gagarina Street in New Belgrade. The city highway New Belgrade - Surčin is designed for a vehicle speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

It has three lanes, a five-meter dividing belt, two-meter-wide footpaths and curbs. Three bridges, one bridge-canal and one overpass were built on the route.

At the very beginning of the route, the city's main roads have connections from two streets in New Belgrade, and further on, the road leads through the plain to the first loop, that is, the junction "Surčin 1", of the "half-clover" type.

The end of this section is at the next big interchange in Surčin, after which the highway "Miloš the Great" begins. The project was carried out by the Traffic Institute CIP. Vučić previously said that when the Surčin - New Belgrade highway is completed, it will be possible to reach Čačak from Belgrade by car in just an hour.