Gov't gives highway thumbs down

The government Thursday rejected by a majority of votes a proposal to start the construction of the Horgos-Pozega highway. Concessionaires PORR and Alpine Mayreder previously asked for permission to self-finance construction of the highway in the first year, after Deutsche Bank announced that they were unable to provide guarantees for construction within the agreed time frame. Gov't gives highway thumbs down Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilic, who tabled the proposal, said "there was no real reason to postpone the start of implementation of the concession deal", and that the postponement was irresponsible. He told a news conference after the government session that the concession and the works were halted through "outvoting in the government" and that the project that took three years to prepare will now not be realized. The coalition of the Democratic Party (DS) and G17 Plus have the majority in the caretaker government. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Ilic's New Serbia (NS) are also part of the coalition which collapsed recently. New elections are scheduled for May 11. At the session today, the ministries of finance and economy took the stand that works cannot start as there is a danger that the risks of financing the project might be transferred to the budget and the citizens, Ilic said. The two ministries, led by the DS and G17 Plus, proposed a 30-day postponement of the deadline for the concessionaires to secure banking guarantees, but Kostunica did not put that proposal up for the vote. Earlier, the prime minister said that a decision to suspend work on the Horgos-Pozega highway would be fatal for the economy. Kostunica said the "statements that Democratic Party (DS) ministers, who make up the majority of the government, will call for a suspension of the planned work on the construction of the Horgos-Pozega highway, represent a veritable destruction of the country's development." In a statement to the press, Kostunica said that "just a few days ago, the deputy prime minister said that work could begin immediately if the concessionaires wanted to finance the work themselves this year." "Now we see someone has ordered the construction of the highway to be suspended, and such a decision by DS ministers brings direct and unscrupulous harm to Serbia and its inhabitants," the prime minister fumed. "Because of this unreasonable decision, it is the DS ministers that will be held responsible for all the possible far-reaching consequences this may have on the development of our country," he declared ahead of today’s cabinet meeting, the topic of which will be the Horgos-Pozega highway concession. Velimir Ilic, Predrag Bubalo (Tanjug)

Gov't gives highway thumbs down

Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilić, who tabled the proposal, said "there was no real reason to postpone the start of implementation of the concession deal", and that the postponement was irresponsible.

He told a news conference after the government session that the concession and the works were halted through "outvoting in the government" and that the project that took three years to prepare will now not be realized.

The coalition of the Democratic Party (DS) and G17 Plus have the majority in the caretaker government. Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Ilić's New Serbia (NS) are also part of the coalition which collapsed recently. New elections are scheduled for May 11.

At the session today, the ministries of finance and economy took the stand that works cannot start as there is a danger that the risks of financing the project might be transferred to the budget and the citizens, Ilić said.

The two ministries, led by the DS and G17 Plus, proposed a 30-day postponement of the deadline for the concessionaires to secure banking guarantees, but Koštunica did not put that proposal up for the vote.

Earlier, the prime minister said that a decision to suspend work on the Horgoš-Požega highway would be fatal for the economy.

Koštunica said the "statements that Democratic Party (DS) ministers, who make up the majority of the government, will call for a suspension of the planned work on the construction of the Horgoš-Požega highway, represent a veritable destruction of the country's development."

In a statement to the press, Koštunica said that "just a few days ago, the deputy prime minister said that work could begin immediately if the concessionaires wanted to finance the work themselves this year."

"Now we see someone has ordered the construction of the highway to be suspended, and such a decision by DS ministers brings direct and unscrupulous harm to Serbia and its inhabitants," the prime minister fumed.

"Because of this unreasonable decision, it is the DS ministers that will be held responsible for all the possible far-reaching consequences this may have on the development of our country," he declared ahead of today’s cabinet meeting, the topic of which will be the Horgoš-Požega highway concession.