China's CRBC awarded third roadbuilding contract in Serbia

The Serbian government has announced the signing of a €606 million deal with China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to build a motorway in the north of the country.

The 48 km Fruskogorski Corridor will be an important link in the Balkan country's road infrastructure. It will connect the town of Ruma with Novi Sad - the country's second-largest city - and will include a bridge over the Danube river and a 3.5 km tunnel beneath the Fruska Gora national park.

The road will also be connected to the A1 motorway, which forms the backbone of Serbia's road network and runs the length of the country connecting the Hungarian and North Macedonian borders.

The Fruskogorski Corridor will also form a link for the Trans-European transport corridors X and IV and create a shortcut between Bosnia and Romania.

The road was first proposed by Infrastructure minister and Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic in 2015, with the idea of construction beginning in 2016 if funding could be arranged.

In 2017, she said that work would begin the following year, though it was still dependent on funding. 

However, it took until August 2020 for funding to finally be secured when Mihajlovic announced that the Export-Import Bank of China had agreed to provide a loan.

The contract is the third road-building project in Serbia to be awarded to CRBC, which is a subsidiary of majority state-owned China Communications Construction Company. 

The company is currently building a €450 million 31 km motorway in central Serbia between the towns of Preljina and Pozega.

In November 2019, CRBC was awarded a €450 million contract by the Serbian government for construction of Preljina-Pozega motorway section.

CRBC is also working on a number of other projects in the country including the €330 million, 3.2 square kilometres Borca industrial park, which is widely expected to become the largest of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe.

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