Vucic: Belgrade to get metro system in two to three years

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday Belgrade would get a metro system in two to three years, but that development and progress in other Serbian cities were also important.

"Belgrade is getting a metro. We have technical problems in terms of whether the (tunnel) boring machine will arrive and whether it will start operating in April, but we must build the stops before that. I do not want to explain a thousand things - you will have a metro in Belgrade in two to three years," Vucic said during a visit to the construction site of a new Sava bridge. "

"The stops will be small masterpieces. You board the metro and you get from Mirijevo to Cukarica in five minutes," Vucic said.

He said Belgrade was making progress at a great pace but that he would like to see other cities do the same.

"I would like Nis and Kragujevac to be making progress at the same pace. They are making progress, but there is much more money in Belgrade due to the institutions of the Republic and everything else. I want us to direct as much money as possible from Belgrade to other parts of Serbia," Vucic said.

Vucic: New Sava bridge to open to traffic by end-March 2027

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday a new Belgrade bridge on the Sava River would be opened to traffic by end-March 2027, greatly facilitating traffic in the capital.

"The new bridge must be opened to traffic by the end of March 2027," Vucic said during a visit to the construction site of the bridge.

Passenger and tram traffic on the bridge will be much more silent and more modern, he noted.

"And it will be an incomparably more beautiful bridge. Once we complete the pedestrian bridge - which will be much taller and much larger, but attractive like those in Florence and some other bridges - that will make for a fantastic picture surrounding the Belgrade Waterfront and the parts of the city that are currently the most beautiful," he said.

He said the new Sava bridge encouraged the completion of other attractions on the New Belgrade side of the city.

Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said the bridge would open to traffic before EXPO 2027 and that it only remained to be seen whether everything would be finished in time for it to also be opened to tram traffic.

Vucic: I am hoping for big, significant Srpska lista victory in elections

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he was hoping for a "big and significant" Srpska lista victory in Sunday's early elections for the Kosovo-Metohija provincial assembly.

Asked by reporters what he expected from the elections in terms of results and security conditions for Serbs, Vucic said that, for Serbia, it was very important that Serb representatives had their place in the assembly and represented the interests of the Serbs - and not those of Albin Kurti - in the future.

"I sincerely support Srpska lista and I am hoping for a big and significant victory for it. I believe it will win by far the highest number of Serb seats, and I wish them that they may represent our people successfully," Vucic said.