During her visit to Serbia, EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc paid a visit to the Zezelj Bridge in Novi Sad where, according to the President of the Provincial Government Igor Mirovic, railway and road traffic should be up and running in April and early July, respectively.
The EU co-funded the construction of the bridge with EUR40 million – out of EUR50 million of project value – Commissioner Bulc said, adding that the Union will donate another EUR3 million for the construction of access roads.
“I was with Minister Mihajlovic a year ago when Serbia committed to finishing the bridge in one year. We now see Serbia is delivering on that promise. This bridge is more than a connection between two opposite sides of the river; it offers a chance for Novi Sad to become a development centre in line with the European Connectivity Agenda,” she said.
She said connectivity was facilitating EU accession, allowing Serbia to implement as many projects as possible and helping it to integrate itself into the EU, one of the world’s largest economies.
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Out of a total of EUR16 billion currently invested in Serbian infrastructure, EUR2 billion are being invested in Vojvodina, said Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic.
The Zezelj Bridge is located on the Corridor X, she said, attaching great importance to it because, as she put it, it is helping Serbia to become connected with as many countries as possible.
“We are a country heading toward the EU, but we are heading there for the benefit of citizens, to make their lives better. This is a modern bridge and this is what we seek – to make Serbia a modern country,” Mihajlovic said.
The Zezelj Bridge was torn down on 23 April during the NATO bombing of Serbia. Bridge arches were joined together in November 2017.
The bridge is part of efforts to modernise the Belgrade-Budapest railway line. It has 474 metres in length with two railway and two road tracks.
Bulc and Brnabic discuss implementation of Transport Community Treaty
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EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc met with Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic in Belgrade. A press release issued by the Government reads that the Prime Minister described the decision to set up the seat of the Transport Community in Belgrade as a major recognition of the Government’s efforts to advance regional connectivity.
Brnabic said that choosing Belgrade for this task was an important step forward in the implementation of the Transport Community Treaty, signed at the Western Balkans Summit in Trieste. The fact that the decision was endorsed by both the region and the European Union is extremely important, she said.
Commissioner Bulc explained that the Transport Community was in fact a formal framework within which the Western Balkans countries can make use of various European Union financial mechanisms and commit themselves to implementing numerous projects.
According to her, the establishment of such an association opens up a window of opportunity to create a single transport market for all countries in the Western Balkans. She went on to describe the infrastructure connectivity as an avenue for swifter economic development of both Serbia and the region.
According to Bulc, the Transport Community Treaty includes the implementation of EU transport acquis, streamlining of administrative procedures and paving the way for the promotion of transport infrastructure, the Government statement reads.
