Chinese didn't withdraw from concession deal - minister

Chinese didn't withdraw from concession deal - minister

BELGRADE -- Chinese companies "did not renounce" the planned concession on the section of the highway through western Serbia, Zorana Mihajlovic has been quoted as saying.

However, these companies are "asking for additional guarantees for traffic frequency on the road from Belgrade to southern Adriatic," the Serbian minister of construction, transport and infrastructure stated, according to Tanjug.

"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.

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