Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed his enthusiasm for building highway networks connecting cities across the country and with neighboring countries, while he was attending the opening ceremony of a highway earlier this month.

"If you want to be wealthy, first build roads," he said, citing a Chinese proverb. "Roads bring advantage, happiness and progress, they bring investors. Because without roads, no one will come."

The ceremony inaugurated the 8-kilometer-long New Belgrade-Surcin highway, which is part of the E-763 highway built partly by the China Communications Construction Company.

Vucic said the new section "will be the lifeblood of western Serbia". Vucic visited the construction site on Jan 11 to express his appreciation to the Chinese workers.

During the inauguration ceremony, Vucic said the country's public debt is low compared with European Union states due to good financial results this year, so Serbia will sign more large contracts for highway projects this year.

With a total length of about 260 kilometers from the capital Belgrade to the border with Montenegro, the E-763 highway is an important part of the highway network in Serbia as well as the Pan-Europe Corridor 11, a ferry and highway corridor linking Italy's Bari to Romania's Bucharest via Montenegro and Serbia.

The E-763 is a vital artery from Serbia, a landlocked country, to the port in Montenegro along the Adriatic Sea. It also connects with Hungary via E75 and with Romania via E70.

The New Belgrade-Surcin section, designed with a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, has three lanes in each direction and two-way pedestrian paths and bicycle lanes. The $70.5-million project, which broke ground in March 2020, included the construction and upgrading of a roundabout, an interchange, six bridges and 11 pipe culverts.

With the inauguration of the new section, the total mileage of the E-763 highway reaches 140 km, including a total length of 87 km built by Chinese companies China Communications Construction and Shandong Hi-Speed Group.

Companies from Azerbaijan also participated in the construction of E-763.

Shandong Hi-Speed has so far completed the 50.2-km section of E-763 it has contracted to build.

China Communications Construction has contracted a total of 162.7 km and has so far completed two sections totaling 25.5 km. The 30.2-km section from Preljina to Pozega is now under construction.

Serbia's terrain of hills and mountains means that building a highway often requires the construction of many tunnels and bridges.