Will the Pakovraće – Požega highway section finally open for traffic after multiple announcements? If you ask the Serbian President, he sees no obstacles. Neither does the Government, which passed a new decree.
But engineering supervisors have unanimously refused to sign documents without which it is impossible for construction inspectors to issue a certificate that the section is completed.
The Serbian President announced that by the end of 2021, vehicles would be using the highway from Pakovraće to Požega. Then, similar promises almost every year. This year’s Vidovdan opening was moved to the first week of July. But from the first, it has now reached the second week of July.
“This opening of the road to Požega is driving me crazy. Every day it’s ‘tomorrow.’ I expected it to open tomorrow. I expected it to open tomorrow, but it probably won’t be tomorrow. Whether it will be Saturday or Sunday, it has to be by Monday. It’s no use, some paper is always missing because someone didn’t sign something, and that’s just a farce now. The hill moves 0.1 millimeter—who are you kidding with 0.1 millimeter, and I don’t know, but that’s how it goes—everyone is trying to stop the state,” stated Aleksandar Vučić. However, the state of this highway construction seems to be far more serious. Because engineers have unanimously refused to sign documents, which are a prerequisite for confirming that the section is completed. Only after that would a potential positive report from the Technical Inspection Commission follow, which is the basis for the section to be put into trial operation.
“The Government of Serbia issued a decree in 2024 verifying the possibility of putting certain highway sections into trial operation, especially opening tunnels, without verifying certain accompanying systems, such as signaling,” explains architect Zdenka Radovanović.
Two weeks ago, the government passed a decree allowing the opening of tunnels even without automatic monitoring, with 24-hour continuous on-call crews. Functional and technical tests, i.e., tests of road and equipment correctness, still need to be performed, and according to the decree, the deadline for this is 90 days.
The biggest problem is the Munjino Brdo tunnel. The terrain above the retaining wall, already secured landslide near this tunnel, is settling, and the hill is full of water.
“You see how much water there is. We see that water is constantly flowing from the tunnel. And it continues down into the river,” says Aleksandar Antović.
Aleksandar Antović, a resident of the village Prilipac, located near this tunnel, tells N1 that engineers know the extent of the problem with the hill through which the tunnel passes and how active the landslide is.
“They told us, and they weren’t supposed to disclose this publicly, that they have a big problem with the landslide. You can see they are still working on resolving that issue. The last three years have been extremely dry, but that landslide is active. The hill through which the tunnel passed is full of water,” says Antović.
According to the decree, fire protection, video surveillance, and telecommunications in the tunnels will be continuously monitored by on-call teams until the smart automatic monitoring system is completed. This means it would not be fully functional, as some lanes would have to be closed.
The road was built under an agreement with China, and the main contractor is a Chinese company that was also one of the main contractors for the modernization of the railway from Novi Sad to Subotica, a project that included the reconstruction of the Novi Sad railway station building.
Source: N1, Photo: Srdjan Ilic
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