Chinese expertise brings cities closer together

Less than 20 days later on April 6, workers at the Chinese joint venture started to lay tracks on the 108-km section from Novi Sad to Subotica, a Serbian city bordering Hungary. The section will have a total of 49 overpasses, underpasses and viaducts, with the largest viaduct to be built near Vrbas about 1.6 km long.

Serbia's Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic announced last month that construction of the section will be completed by the end of next year.

The Mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Duric, said he has seen the good quality of the high-speed railway in the past year. "I'm fully confident that we will travel to Subotica on a high-speed railway by the end of next year," he said.

Duan Wei, the deputy chief engineer of the Chinese joint venture, appeared sentimental on the one-year anniversary.

Since arriving in Serbia to work on the project in August 2018 he has returned to China only once, at the end of 2018. A mountain of work and the pandemic kept him from seeing his wife and young daughter, a second-grader in elementary school, in person.

"I feel sorry for my family for not being able to join them during Spring Festivals," he said. However, Duan said he feels proud to be part of a key project of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Jelena Gavric, a native of Novi Sad, did a live broadcast relating to the high-speed railway on the anniversary of its inauguration.

Gavric, who speaks fluent Chinese, and who has worked on the joint venture for the previous four months, said Serbians are grateful for these kinds of projects and for China's help.

"It makes me happy as well," said Gavric, who has spent seven years in China and has become a well-known social media influencer on Chinese social media apps such as Weibo, Douyin and Bilibili. "Serbia and the West Balkans need more modern projects, and hopefully China will play an important role in modernizing this region."

Chinese companies have been active in other infrastructure construction projects in Serbia.

PowerChina, which has also built highways in Serbia, is undertaking the civil engineering for Belgrade's subway projects, which also involves the French company Alstom.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said last year that he was pleased with the Chinese and French companies that are the main contractors on the subway project as well as domestic companies that have been chosen as subcontractors.