Chinese-built bridge in Serbia to open this year

The Bridge over the Danube in Serbian capital, Belgrade, built by Chinese company CRBC would be open in December this year, Serbian Minister of Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic announced after inspecting the work progress with the Chinese ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang on Wednesday.

Li Manchang and Zorana Mihajlovic toured the building site on Wednesday to determine that works at the popularly called Chinese bridge that ought to connect Belgrade's municipalities of Zemun and Borca are going just as planned.

Construction progresses as planed and Serbian government expects that the bridge will be open by the end of December,? Mihajlovic said, adding that the subcontractors announced possibility of even finishing before deadline.

Once finished, the bridge will significantly influence reducing jams in Serbian capital by redirecting cargo transport from the city's centre, on a detour towards the main highway. She said that the connections of the future bridge with local roads will be finished during next year in a total length of 21 kilometers.

• The bridge over the Danube presents the second bridge over the European Union's longest river on its flow through the Serbian capital.

• Once finished, the new six-lane bridge will be 1.5 kilometers long, 30-meter wide and will overarch the Danube at an altitude of 23 meters.

Li said that the bridge over the Danube, popularly called Chinese bridge is just one of the many large infrastructural projects between Serbia and China, and expressed his confidence that the construction will meet the deadlines.

He added that that he hopes that many more large projects will be realized by Chinese companies in Serbia.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
7/8/14