Radar: Morava Corridor Will Cost Serbia Three Times The Contracted Price

Road (BETAPHOTO/MILAN TIMOTIC/DS)

The price the state of Serbia will pay for the Morava Corridor, without interest on the loans contracted so far in the amount of EUR1.9 billion that will be paid off until 2037, will add up to EUR2.2 billion in the best-case scenario, or three times more than the offered price according to which it should have been completed by 2023, the Radar website reported on March 26.

This deadline for completion was announced by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Dec. 28, 2019, at the official ground breaking ceremony. Even five and a half years ago, it was suspected that the authorities led by the Progressive Party would pay Bechtel and Enka companies much more than the EUR745 million, plus 20 percent in unforeseen expenses envisaged in the commercial contract that was signed on the behalf of the government in December 2019 by the then minister for construction, transportation and infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlovic.

So far, RSD221.6 billion, or EUR1.9 billion, has been paid from the state koffers toward this most expensive infrastructure project in Serbia’s history, coupled with the fact that this year’s budget envisaged state guarantees for another EUR300 million in loans and that the Serbian Assembly has ratified the last of the four contracted loans for the “first digital motorway” in the amount of EUR260 million.

In the Revised Fiscal Strategy for 2026, with projections for 2027 and 2028, Finance Minister Sinisa Mali planned RSD7.3 billion, or around EUR62 million, for this project in the next year, which will push the final tally to almost two and a half billion euros.