Corridors of Serbia deny responsibility for Ljig-Preljina delay – Deadline extension requested back in February

The enterprise Corridors of Serbia reported that it had notified the competent ministry back in February that the extension of the availability period for the loan for construction works on the sections Ljig-Boljkovci, Bljkovci-Takovo and Takovo-Preljina was necessary.

The Corridors listed a number of memos they had sent in order to, as they say, notify the competent ministries in a timely fashion about the necessity of the extension of the loan availability period and that, otherwise, the deadline would be exceeded.

They remind that the agreement on the loan for the construction of the sections Ljig-Boljkovci, Boljkovci-Takovo and Takovo-Preljina between the Government of Serbia as a borrower and the Government of Azerbaijan as a lender was signed on February 2, 2012, in Baku, and that it came into effect on May 4, 2012, with the availability period of 48 months, i.e. until May 4, 2016.

– We notified the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure by memo on February 24, 2016, that it was necessary to extend the loan availability period, clearly pointing out that it was a necessary condition for the completion of the project. A copy of the memo was sent to the Infrastructural Project Implementation Unit – the report says.

– According to the information received from the Ministry, the annex to the agreement on the extension of the loan availability period between Serbia and Azerbaijan was adopted at the session of the Government held on July 7 – the report says.

The contractor notified the investor and the supervisory authority by memo on August 2 that, due to the financial discrepancy caused by the failure to extend the loan availability period, it wouldn't be possible to complete the works before August 25, 2016.

– Seeing how the loan has not been extended, the contractor notified the Corridors of Serbia and the supervisory authority by memo on August 22 that it was necessary to extend the deadline for the completion of the works by at least 60 days starting from the moment the financial liabilities of the investor to the contractor were fully settled, and which amounted to EUR 25,947,042 on August 22 – the report says.

The Corridors of Serbia responded to the request of the Ministry by memo on August 26 and at the same time informed the Ministry of the reasons the deadline had been exceeded due to the failure to extend the loan availability period and about the liabilities towards the contractor on August 26, 2016.

Koridori Srbije d.o.o. Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Corridors of Serbia

Ljig Preljina section

Government of Serbia

Government of Azerbaijan

Ministry of Construction Transport and Infrastructure

Infrastructural Project Implementation Unit