Ada Bridge opens with fireworks display as cost concerns linger
Belgrade : Drivers from across Serbia are heading for Belgrade’s Ada Bridge, which opened to much fanfare on New Year’s Eve, while questions remain about the project’s total cost.
“I drove across it the other day and it was so good! I know that some people would argue that Serbia, with its poor economy and high unemployment, should have spent the money on better things, but I’m glad that the city got something as beautiful as this bridge,” said 22-year-old Belgrade student Milana Radić.
The 969-metre-long bridge across the Sava is designed to relieve Belgrade’s traffic congestion and is capable of carrying 250,000 vehicles, trams, pedestrians and bikes per day. Construction began in December 2008, but its full cost was never revealed.
The issue has become the subject of pre-election mud-slinging since Belgrade authorities took out several loans to finance the project.
The opposition Serbian Progressive Party put the price tag at nearly €500 million, making it one of the most expensive construction projects of its kind in the world.
Nemanja Stančević, a 34-year-old salesman, is not thrilled. He believes that in a time of economic crisis Belgrade authorities should have spent the money more wisely.
“I saw the show about the bridge on Discovery and they said this was one of the largest projects in Europe”, he says. “I agree that Belgrade’s traffic was desperate for one more bridge and it’s all fine, but did such a poor country as Serbia really need to build such an expensive bridge? I don’t think so.We’ll [citizens] have to pay back loans for decades”.
Despite such criticisms, the bridge was crowded with both cars and pedestrians in the first three days after it opened. Everyone wanted to see the structure that altered Belgrade’s horizon with its 200-metre-high tower.
“I came from Valjevo to visit a cousin and I used the chance, while I’m here, to see the bridge. It is magnificent. The view is great and the feeling that I had while I was driving across it was something I really haven’t felt before,” says Branko Popović, a 38-year-old farm worker.
Thousands of Belgraders also ushered in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display on the bridge, attended by Serbian President Boris Tadić and Belgrade Mayor Dragan Đilas.
“I was on the bridge for New Year’s Eve and it was really fabulous! The bridge is really fantastic and such fireworks I haven’t seen in my life. The day after, I took my grandchildren for a walk (across it) again.
“There were hundreds of people, laughing, taking photos. It was a nice beginning of a year. Belgrade needs something to be proud of,” says Gordana Malešević, a 56-year-old economist from Belgrade.
