At the sitting held on 3 December, as part of the discussion on the Proposed Budget for 2008, the members of the Committee on Transportation and Communications considered the proposal of the Ministry of Finance and Infrastructure for the fulfillment of financial obligations toward the Public Enterprise “Serbian Roads”. The sitting was chaired by Vladan Vucicevic and attended by the Ministers of Finance and Infrastructure, Mirko Cvetkovic and Velimir Ilic, as well as the Director General of PE “Serbian Railways“, Milanko Sarancic.

In line with the conclusion from the previous Committee sitting, the representative of PE “Serbian Roads” presented a financial plan and programme of unloading debts, as well as a business plan for the upcoming year. According to the plan, part of the enterprise’s debts from the previous period would be turned into public debt with a payment deadline of four to five years, while in the future more funds for road maintenance should be secured by increasing PE “Serbian Roads’” share in the fuel excise from 10 to 15% starting 1 January 2008. It was also stated that considerable funds from the National Investment Plan will be engaged in the development of Corridor 10 and the Belgrade Bypass, which will be priorities for the future development of Serbia.

The Committee members pointed out that the problems of financing the transportation industry can be solved from the budgetary means for 2008, NIP means, as well as their own income from road toll. They also asked that a report on the EP “Serbian Roads” business dealings in the past two years, that is since the transformation of the Roads Directorate into a public enterprise, also be submitted along with this financial plan.

At the sitting, the Committee members were briefed on the Decision of the Business Association of International Road Transport Operators on the use of terminal services in the customs process. On this issue, the Minister of Finance, Mirko Cvetkovic, pointed out that the Ministry will discuss whether it is possible to terminate or change the contracts of land lease at customs terminals, so that transport operators would no longer be obligated to pay parking fees during the collection of customs duties. The Committee instructed the authorised Ministry to propose a solution to the problem to the Government within the next two weeks.