Agreement Signed with RATP Dev on Services of Early Operator Help on Belgrade Subway Project – Sapic Optimistic About Having Two Lines by 2030

The agreement on the services of operator help on the Belgrade Subway project was signed this Friday, January 13, at the Old Palace by the city secretary for public transport, Predrag Lukic, the acting director of the PE Beogradski metro i voz, Andreja Mladenovic, and the chairwoman of RATP Developpement S.A. Executive Board, Hiba Fares from France.

The mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic, and the ambassador of France to Serbia, Pierre Cochard, attended the signing of the agreement. Sapic said that “the construction of the subway is a national project which cannot be realized with the support of the president of the state, the government, all the ministries, and then, of course, the City of Belgrade as well”.

– The agreement signed today and what will happen in the coming period give us the right to finally say that we have something tangible regarding topic number one in the past few decades in Belgrade. This year will be extremely important, because the depot in Makis will already be visible, as will be the traffic route, the construction of which is to start toward Zeleznik and Bele Vode, and the dimensions of the tunnel boring machine should be finally defined as well, because it is to be tailor-made. So far, we are not late in any segment of this project and we truly have reason to hope that the deadlines that are set will be met, namely, that, from 2028 to 2030, both lines of the Belgrade Subway will become operational – the mayor said and added that “the subway has to become the backbone of the public transport system, because Belgrade cannot withstand more traffic and more cars”.

Sapic said that he was especially glad that, in the past two years, the Belgrade Subway project had finally started going as planned.

The ambassador of France to Serbia, Pierre Cochard, said that he was satisfied about the signing of the agreement on the services of early operator help on the Belgrade Subway project.

– I can see that this project is progressing and that the year 2023 will be significant in that respect. The French government will continue giving its determined support to this project and similar ones – Cochard pointed out.

Andreja Mladenovic thanked mayor Aleksandar Sapic and the City of Belgrade for, as he said, great support in the realization of one of the biggest infrastructure projects.

– The company with which we have signed the agreement has great knowledge and cooperation with it is a true privilege for us. The agreement on consulting services is very important, because, the way we set things up now, that’s what the subway will look like and function – Mladenovic said.

The chairwoman of RATP Developpement S.A. Executive Board, Hiba Fares, said that France and Serbia fostered very close relations, as shown by the interstate agreement related to the construction of the subway.

– We want to contribute to the development of Belgrade, and the agreement we are signing represents the expertise of RATP Dev in the exploitation and maintenance of multimodal and integrated public transport networks – Hiba Fares said.

The event was also attended by the city manager of Belgrade, Miroslav Cuckovic, representatives of the Economic Department of the Embassy of France and representatives of RATP Developpement S.A.

JKP Beogradski metro i voz Beograd

Grad Beograd

Ambasada Republike Francuske Beograd

PUE Beogradski metro

City of Belgrade

RATP Developpement

Embassy of France

Predrag Lukić

Andreja Mladenović

Hiba Fares

Pierre Cochard

Aleksandar Šapić

agreement on services of early operator help

Belgrade Subway

construction of Belgrade Subway