Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication Mr Rasim Ljajic has said early today that the entire project of revitalisation of the Golubac Fortress will be finished in December next year, pointing out that were many issues regarding the execution of works, but that everything has been overcome.

After the opening of the tunnel under the Golubac Fortress, he has said that the Austrian Government has provided 800.000 euros for the continuation of the reconstruction of certain parts of the palace on the Golubac Fortress.

In spring, as he has said, we expect additional 2,100,000 euros form the IPA EU funds for this project. “We believe that those funds will be sufficient to complete the entire project by the end of 2017”, Mr Ljajic has stressed.

He has pointed out that the delays occurred due to many issues, since the designing had to be done first.

“According to the exiting design certain operational works could not be done on the very fortress since the constructors faced that the actual situation completely mismatches the project tasks”, Mr Ljajić has explained.

He has also said that it was necessary to adjust the project to the actual state of the fortress, and that it was the reason of the work delays.

The entire project, as he has stated, is being realised and implemented by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), and Serbia is the beneficiary of the project funds.

However, he has added that the Ministry was forced to allocate additional five million for a sub-project.

The tunnel and the bypass route around the Golubac Fortress has been ceremonially opened today in the presence of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Aleksandar Vucic, Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, Mr Michael Davenport, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the Republic of Serbia, Mr Johannes Eigner, members of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, representatives of the Municipality of Golubac and the company “Tvrđava Golubački grad”.

The value of the construction of the road section which is 760 meters long, consisted of the bypass route and the tunnel which is 150 meters long, amounts to 2.3 million euros.

It is a part of the project “Revitalisation of the Golubac Fortress” started in 2012, and funded by the EU with 6.5 million euros.