July 23 (SeeNews) - The World Bank Group has approved a $40 million euro (35.7 million euro) financing to Serbia to support the country in reducing waiting times at border crossings, Serbian infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic has said.
The financing is part of the "Trade and Transport Facilitation" project, which also includes Albania and North Macedonia, and has a total cost of $90 million, Mihajlovic said in a press release on Monday.
The beneficiaries of the loan, to be operational in the second half of 2019, are the customs administration, state-run railway infrastructure company Infrastruktura Zeleznice Srbije, road construction company Putevi Srbije and motorway construction company Koridori Srbije, Mihajlovic said.
"After the launch of the southern section of Corridor X and the completion of the entire eastern section of Corridor X towards Bulgaria, we expect further growth of transit through Serbia. Unlike in the past, infrastructure is no longer a major problem for the fast movement of people and goods in the region - unlike border-crossing procedures and the long time for transiting between countries," she added.
According to data from the World Bank, the "Trade and Transport Facilitation" project comprises four components. The first component is facilitating movement of goods across the Western Balkans, focusing on the adoption and implementation of the national single window (NSW), the improvements of border crossing points and crossing points in selected trade corridors, and the implementation of electronic data interchange.
The second component is enhancing transport efficiency and predictability, which will focus on the adoption of an intelligent transport system (ITS) and corridor performance monitoring, and the improvement of railway level crossings (RLC). The third component will support the implementation of commitments to improve market access in services and foster regional investments. The fourth component will support project implementation units (PIU) and provide additional technical support, including for policy coordination, operating costs, and monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
($ = 0.893679 euro)