January 14 (SeeNews) - Serbian state-owned railway infrastructure company will sign a contract worth 230 million euro ($263.5 million) with Russia's RZD International, Serbia's infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Monday.
The contract between Infrastruktura Zeleznice Srbije and the Russian railway infrastructure engineering company will envisage the design and implementation of three projects, Mihajlovic said during the morning programme of Belgrade-based Prva TV, according to a press release issued by the infrastructure ministry.
The projects comprise the electrification of the Stara Pazova - Novi Sad railway section, construction of a modern dispatch centre, as well as continuing with the overhaul of the section from Valjevo to Uzice, part of the railway line linking Belgrade to the Montenegrin port of Bar, Mihajlovic said.
The contract will be signed during the forthcoming visit of Russian president Vladimir Putin to Serbia, Mihajlovic said.
Putin is expected to visit Serbia on January 17, Russian news agency TASS quoted Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic as saying last month.
Mihajlovic said in October that Serbia was in talks for a $500 million loan from Russia, to be used to finance railway projects, including continuing the overhaul of the Belgrade-Bar railway line and completing the reconstruction works on the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad line. At the end of the same month RZD International said it has started the construction of a viaduct on the railway line linking Stara Pazova to Novi Sad.
($ = 0.872255 euro)