Announcement of tender for procurement of new trams in Belgrade by end of month – vehicles in streets in February or March 2010

Open competition for procurement of 20 new trams should be announced by the end of the month. However, that does not mean that these vehicles will appear in the streets by the end of the year, as it has been announced earlier. In the best case, modern, air-conditioned, low-floor trams will start transporting citizens of Belgrade in February or March 2010, says Radoslav Nikolić, the Director General of City Transportation Company "Beograd". The reason is, as he explains, complex procurement procedure.

– The paper works are close to end, and the tender will, most probably, be announced by the end of the month. It will be open for 60 days, and then another month must pass because of the procedure. Therefore, we can expect the contract on procurement of trams to be signed in June with the winner of the open competition – Nikolić points out and adds that that will be followed by the announcement of the tender for overhaul of 20 old trams.

He points out that the funds for this procurement (40m EUR) have been provided partially from the city budget, and partially from the loan approved by the European Investment Bank. It is possible, as he explains, that Mayor Dragan Đilas will soon start additional negotiations with international bankers if it turns out that these funds are insufficient or if the city decides, in the meantime, to buy more than 20 trams.

This option has not been excluded yet because it was announced last year that between 20 and 40 trams would be procured. However, it was then decided that the existing 60 railway vehicles would not be overhauled, but the CEO of the City Transportation Company now announces that 20 trams will be repaired after all.

According to some estimates, about 15m EUR will be needed for the overhaul, which is pretty much since one new tram 25 meters long costs between 1 and 3m EUR, depending on the manufacturer. The average life of these vehicles ranges between 20 and 30 years, while Czech trams that transport citizens of Belgrade are 18 years old at average.