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Weekly Lists
February 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 28
bne:
Infrastructure
Serbia and Croatia agree to reconstruct Belgrade-Zagreb railway
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Trans- port and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic and Croatian Minister of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic have agreed to take steps towards the reconstruction of the railway from Belgrade to Zagreb, reads the Serbian government statement issued on Febru- ary 12 after the two ministers met in Zagreb.
The Belgrade-Zagreb railway is 412km long and lies on Corridor X. Corridor X is the main external connection for Serbia, as well as the shortest transport route between Western and Central Europe, and Southeast Europe.
Reconstruction of this railway has a symbolic meaning in the
sense of re-building strong ties from the Yugoslavian era, when Belgrade-Zagreb was the most frequently used rail route within the federation. There was also an intense cultural exchange between the two cities.
According to the statement, Mihajlovic and Butkovic agreed to meet within the next ten days in order to sign the protocol on cooperation on the project.
The two ministers also agreed to jointly apply for money funds for the projects from the European Union.
Turkmenistan has launched a new international airport in Turk- menabat city, the administrative centre of Turkmenistan’s Lebap region, the state-run Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported on February 14. The report did not specify its costs of construction.
The authorities claim that the launch of the new international air- port in Turkmenabat will “contribute to the further dynamic devel- opment of domestic aviation, the activation of mutually beneficial trade, economic and humanitarian ties, tourism”. However, consid- ering Turkmenistan’s troubles with budget revenues throughout the last couple of years due to low world oil prices, the new airport’s launch only raises more questions concerning the dubious spend- ing habits of Turkmen authorities.
The new Turkmenabat airport, constructed by a local company Gundogdy, will have a capacity of 500 passengers per hour. The airport also features a 3,800 metre-long and 65-metre-wide runway “equipped with state-of-the-art ground support facilities – light- signal and meteorological systems”, which the report says will al- low for servicing of aircraft of all types.
Turkmenistan launches new airport