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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement for building Zezelj Bridge in Novi Sad signed

Novi Sad, 25 January 2011

An agreement on the construction of a road and railroad Zezelj Bridge across the Danube in Novi Sad, worth €45.3 million, was signed today at the Vojvodina provincial government.

Author: Beta

The agreement was signed in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic by Head of the European Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert, President of the Vojvodina Executive Council Bojan Pajtic, Novi Sad Mayor Igor Pavlicic, Director General of Zeleznice Srbije Milovan Markovic and representative of AVZI consortium Hose Alejandro Serrano.

Djelic stressed that the Zezelj Bridge is extremely important for Serbia to fully exploit its pan-European transport corridors.

He noted that according to the Danube Strategy, Serbia, together with Slovenia, Romania and Austria, was tasked with coordinating the issue of road, railroad and river transport.

The new Zezelj Bridge will be longer than the old one by almost 100 metres and taller by 1.2 metres so that tall ships could sail below it, Djelic said.

This is of crucial importance as the bridge is at the crossroads of two important routes, namely road and railroad Corridor 10 and river Corridor 7 on the Danube.

Degert said that the construction of the bridge will start in late summer this year and added that another €5 million will be provided through the Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) for the construction of split roads and renovation of the railway.

The new bridge will have two tracks in each direction and traffic arteries 7.7 metres wide and two pedestrian-bike paths.

It will be built of steel structure with two arches and one pillar which will be the reinforced central pier of the former bridge that was opened for traffic in 1961 and destroyed in April 1999 during the NATO bombing.

Serrano said that Spanish builders will assemble metal arches on the shore and then put them in place with barges, which significantly reduces the cost of construction and makes these companies competitive.

Serrano specified that the bridge should be built within the next 32 months.

The construction of the Zezelj Bridge is co-financed by the EU, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the City of Novi Sad, while Zeleznice Srbije assumed the rights and obligations of the investor of the bridge’s construction on behalf of Serbia.