In the premises of the PE "Roads of Serbia", on Thursday, October 11, 2018, a press conference was held to present the progress of the project "Development of a Road Border Crossing at Kübekháza (HU) - Rabe (SRB) area", which is financed from the Interreg IPA funds of the European Union.
The goal of the project is to provide infrastructural conditions for the opening of the new border crossing "Rabe", in accordance with the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of Hungary signed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.
Imre Kern, State Secretary at the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia, Cornel Kondrik, Deputy Director of the "National Agency for Infrastructure" -NIF Ltd. from Hungary, Predrag Knezevic, director of the PE "Institute for Urbanism of Vojvodina" and Biljana Vuksanovic, executive director of the Sector for Strategy, Design and Development of the PE "Roads of Serbia" spoke at the conference.
Speaking about the project, Imre Kern, State Secretary of the relevant Ministry, pointed out the excellent cooperation with the Sector for Strategy, Design and Development of PE "Roads of Serbia", not only on this but also on all other projects that are working together, which contributes to good progress and IPA cooperation projects, emphasizing the great contribution of "NIF" - the Hungarian National Infrastructure Agency.
Kern emphasized the great importance for the citizens of Serbia and Hungary of all three infrastructure projects, which are financed from IPA funds and coordinated by the Ministry, because their goal is to improve the general living conditions of citizens in the border areas of the two countries.
"These are two projects in the field of road economy, this and the project of connecting Baja and Sombor, while the third is the Preliminary Design Project for the Subotica - Baja railway," Kern emphasized, adding that the total value of all three projects exceeds 10 million euros. He pointed out the great importance of this project for the citizens of the northeastern part of Banat and the southeastern part of Hungary, because it provides a good communication connection with highways and roads in southern Hungary, with great relief of existing border crossings that have been congested in recent years.
Kern expressed his gratitude to all participants in the project and wished the project to be completed on time, within 36 months.The timely opening of this border crossing is in the best interest of citizens, the Ministry and all participants in the project.
Speaking about the progress of the project, Biljana Vuksanović, Executive Director of the Sector for Strategy, Design and Development of the PE "Roads of Serbia" pointed out that the project was contracted in 2016. and that it is funded from donor funds in the amount of 4.7 million euros and that the task of PE "Roads of Serbia", as a partner in the project, is to rehabilitate the road from Rabe to the state border with Hungary in the length of 1365m. That will create conditions for functioning of a new border crossing near the three borders of the Republic of Serbia, Hungary and Romania. Since the project is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia, according to her, the great contribution and assistance of the Ministry to the realization of the project must be emphasized.
Petar Knezevic, director of the Public Enterprise Institute for Urbanism of Vojvodina, pointed out that all partners in the agreement are excellent collaborators, that they applied together for funds from IPA programme in 2016. to already in February 2017. funds were approved, and the Donor Agreement signed in October of the same year and that the total value of the project is 5,468,716.52 euros.
Knežević said that the projects in the border area with Hungary are not new for the Institute, that they have so far had several successfully completed projects with partners from the Republic of Hungary, such as the development of crossings in border areas such as Tisa-Siget-Đala and Bačalmaš - Bajmok, and the Tisa-Siget- Đala cross-border road revitalization project.
The very idea of connecting the towns Rabe and Kubekhaza is not new, says Knezevic, and that idea is supported through planning documents such as "Regional Spatial Plan of AP Vojvodina", "Spatial Plan of the Municipality of Novi Knezevac" and "Spatial Plan for Special Infrastructure Corridor M-24 ", the so-called Banat highway. The project is of great interstate importance, says Knezevic, because it is also a part of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the two countries.
The project should be completed by the end of 2019. and the Institute undertook the obligation to revise the technical documentation, in accordance with the positive regulations of the Republic of Serbia, for 48.7 km of road, adds Knezevic. When successfully completed, it created the conditions for PE "Roads of Serbia" to begin the procedures necessary for rehabilitation road from Kubekhaze to Rabe in the length of 1365 m, on the section of the state road II B row no. 302, Banatsko Arandjelovo - Rabe.
The project has great cross-border, provincial and state significance because its realization will provide spatial and technical conditions for the opening of the border crossing between Hungary and Serbia, on the border of Hungary, Serbia and Romania.
Obligations of domestic partners in the project are the creation of spatial conditions and preparation of documentation for construction / rehabilitation of the road and rehabilitation 1365 m, in the area of the state border Hungary-Serbia, from the settlement of Rabe to the state border (State road II b row no. 302 Banatsko Arandjelovo - Rabe. The obligation of the Hungarian side is the preparation of technical documentation required for the construction of the road, the construction of a new road in the length of 2309 m and the rehabilitation of 844 m of the existing road no. 4302.