The lack of traffic connections leads to a demographic decline of regions. The DSS will finish Pan-European Corridor 10, begin the building of the road Ruma-Sabac-Zvornik and Pojate-Uzice, recover the train infrastructure and save JAT Airlines through privatization.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DSS has done much to conclude the first concession contract to build a highway on the Horgos-Pozega highway section, which the current government annulled. Regardless of the fate of the canceled concession, the highway from Belgrade through Western Serbia and the Montenegrin border will be built, because the Ibar highway is overloaded, a large share of exports gravitate toward that end, the highway would provide a great contribution to the development of tourism and the economy of western and southwestern Serbia.
DSS is committed to finance the construction of roads Ruma-Sabac-Zvornik, then Pojate-Uzice and Novi Sad-Zrenjanin-Vrsac-Timisoara.
Concessions to highways: The most efficient and most accessible means of financing the construction of these roads are concessions. Financing construction with concessions will release a significant part of the budget to invest in other main and smaller highways, but also leave a possibility of funding those projects that will contribute to the ability of the economy to emerge from the current financial crisis.
Railroad Transportation: Rail transport in Serbia is characterized by the poor condition of the infrastructure and transportation facilities, great technical and technological backwardness and inadequate organization of rail traffic control. For the rehabilitation of the railway network it is necessary to reconstruct and modernize at least 1,000 km of main railway lines in the main network and 26 percent of the entire railway network. According to current estimates, for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the railway network over the next ten years it will be needed about EUR4.6bn and seven or eight years.
Priority in the development of railways must be given to streamlining and improving the existing system. Pan-European Corridor 10 is the “backbone” infrastructure of the railway system of the Republic of Serbia as on 25 percent of the mentioned network is realized more than half of the transport activities of our railways.
A priority will also be a section on the main line from Nis to Dimitrovgrad, because it is the only section of the railway Corridor 10 in Serbia, which is not electrified. With the completion of this phase, equipping and developing major transportation centers in Nis, Belgrade and Novi Sad will become very important, whose work would enable the combined transport and optimally divert road transport onto rail and water transport.
One of the major projects for decades is the construction of the Prokop railway station in Belgrade, as part of the railway infrastructure.
Into the complete line from Valjevo to Loznica should be put in about USD100-150 mn, since it was built at only about a 40 percent capacity.
As one of the priorities in the field of rail transport is the construction of a subway in the capital. Funds for construction need to be sought in strategic partnerships with companies from Russia and China.
Air transportation: DSS believes that the privatization and recapitalization of JAT is a strategic priority, given that without the restoration and strengthening of the fleet there are no real conditions for survival in conditions of globalization that is becoming increasingly prominent.
Waterways: Pan-European Corridor 7 or the Danube Corridor is one of the most important European roads, and together with the Rhine and Main is the most important waterway on the continent. Development and investment into the water corridor is a priority in the development of EU transport as well, so it is anticipated to be a part of a strategy to link the Baltic to the Black Sea via river corridors in the next 10 years and to invest about 50 billion Euros.
The main strategic objectives in this area in the future must be:
- Strengthening of cooperation and intensity of river traffic through active cooperation with countries of the Danube region
- Equipment of ports for combined and intermodal transport
- Completion of privatization of river transport companies
- Attracting foreign investors to finance development projects on the rivers of Serbia
- Training and capacity building for shipbuilding and ship repairing
- Better use of port resources of Serbia
- Establishing transport and passenger transportation via ferries in urban areas
- Development of river tourism and fishing
- Development of educational structures and institute in the field of water transport
Telecommunications
DSS is committed to respecting the basic economic rationality, which requires that significant assets are not sold in times of economic crisis, but conversely, that this is the best time to continue investing in the expansion of activities.
Telekom Serbia is our most profitable public company that has continually generated revenues to the budget from profits. If Telecom continues to grow at the present rate, with the further expansion in the region, in three to five years it could become the absolute leader, and during that time, with the economic recovery in the EU and the world, the price that could be achieved with its sale would grow. On the other hand, during that time investment activities on stock exchanges will recover, and a model to attract capital through initial public offering (IPO) has become a very real option, which offers retaining control over the majority block of shares and at the same time attracting a larger number of smaller investors, since the telecommunications business is one of few that has maintained its profitability even in times of economic crisis.
