Minister of Finance Siniša Mali said that the budget proposal for next year will be presented to the members of the Parliament of Serbia on Monday, adding that it provides money for citizens’ standards, investments and energy. Specifically, about seven percent of the gross social product has been set aside for investments, and there, as he said, he will not give up on any started or planned work, not even when it comes to roads, communal infrastructure, hospitals and the like.
Public investments are normally the most productive form of state spending because they have the strongest multiplier effect on economic growth and development, which is especially evident in times of crisis.
The state has maintained the policy of large grants for capital projects, and about 427.2 billion dinars or 3.6 billion euros will be allocated from the budget for them. A large part of these investments will be financed from the account of the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Investments.
The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, said today that the state budget for 2023 allocated 288 billion dinars, or 2.5 billion euros, to that ministry.
“Infrastructure costs money.” Look, for example, at the highway from Požega to Kotroman. It is one-third in the tunnels, one-third on the pillars and one-third on the embankments. If you work through different parts of the country, if you want to build properly and with quality, then simply building infrastructure costs money”, Vesić told TV Prva.
According to him, the budget for the next year is 40 billion dinars higher than in 2022.
“When all the capital projects that we will implement in 2023 in Serbia (in all departments) are added up, we arrive at a total figure of 3.6 billion euros. It is the largest investment in capital investments of all the countries of the Western Balkans together”, added Vesić.
In 2024, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure should have 214 billion dinars at its disposal, and in 2025, 108.4 billion dinars, can be seen in the budget for 2023, which will be presented to the members of the Parliament of Serbia tomorrow.
A significant place In the budget is occupied by railway infrastructure. 25 billion dinars have been earmarked for the high-speed railway project between Serbia and Hungary, and 4.4 billion dinars for the reconstruction of the Nis-Dimitrovgrad railway.
50 billion dinars will be invested in the Moravian Corridor this year, and a total of 113 billion dinars will be invested in the next three years. Next year, 19.4 billion dinars are planned for the Miloš Veliki highway section from Preljina to Požega, 13.35 billion dinars for the Ruma-Šabac-Loznica expressway, and the Novi Beograd-Surčin highway, the Belgrade-Zrenjanin highway, the bypass around Belgrade, Požarevac-Golubac road, end of Iverak-Lajkovac expressway. 13.3 billion dinars have also been earmarked for local sewage infrastructure and landfills.
As can be seen in the budget, which is in the parliamentary procedure, the National Stadium with access roads is under the Ministry of Finance and 7.6 billion dinars will be allocated for it. As of this year, there is also a Ministry for Public Investments, and about 20 billion dinars of investments will be realized through it. This money will be used to build projects in health, education, sports and culture.
Vesić also gave deadlines. He announced that by the end of September 2023, through the construction of the Moravian Corridor, Kruševac will be connected to the highway via Pojat. At the beginning of 2025, the entire road from Pojat to Preljina will be completed, which will make it possible to cross that road in 50 minutes, said the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure. He expects that the section to Požega will be completed by the end of 2023 in the continuation of the Miloš Veliki highway. He mentioned that planning is being done for the sections after Požega, because there is a fork in the highways for Bosnia and Herzegovina and for Montenegro. Vesić says that the Kuzmin-Sremska Rača road is being completed, which will be completed by the end of next year. The Surčin-Novi Beograd expressway will be opened in March, and the bypass to Bubanj Potok in July. He stated that the contract for 31 km, from Bubanj Potok to Pančevo, where there will also be a large road-railway bridge near Vinča, is pending. Vesić said that the project for the high-speed road Belgrade-Zrenjanin-Novi Sad has been completed, and that the Fruškogorski Corridor with an imposing tunnel near Iriški Venac is under construction.
He said that the railway to Subotica will be completed in 2025, and that work will be carried out from Belgrade to Niš, and then reconstruction to Preševo will be planned.
Speaking about the Clean Serbia project, which includes the construction of sewers and waste water factories covering a population of 2.3 million inhabitants, the minister said that it is currently being implemented in 16 locations, and that in 2023 it will be in another 23 cities or municipalities. He estimated that in five to ten years, with projects implemented by two other ministries and local governments, Serbia will solve the sewage problem.
Vesić said that the construction of the bypass around Kragujevac is not being abandoned, and that he will discuss it with the Prime Minister and the President, Politika writes.
