Serbia Railways looks for Chinese loan
Posted on 24 Apr 2014 and read 890 times
Serbian Railways is seeking a loan of about 400 million euros from China for the construction of railway infrastructure. The loan would be paid off through exports of Serbian commodities to China, SR general director Dragoljub Simonovic said in Belgrade last week.
In a meeting with a delegation from China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), Mr Simonovic said that the loan could be agreed before the Chinese president’s visit to Serbia in September. The money would be used to rebuild and electrify the Lapovo-Kraljevo railway, and to modernise several regional railways that have seen a growing volume of traffic serving the ports of Prahovo and Smederevo on the Danube.
The loan could also be used to fund the construction of a terminal on the Corridor 10 railway, which goes from Novi Sad via Belgrade to Nis. CMEC officials said that the signing of memorandums and framework agreements will be organised as soon as possible. CMEC has previously invested in a thermal power plant in Kostolac, eastern Serbia.