FCC, in consortium with Austrian company Alpine Mayreder Bau, has signed an agreement with the government of Serbia to build and operate the 316-kilometre Horgos-Belgrade-Pozega toll road under a 25-year concession. Construction work will cost over 800 million euro.

The Serbian government announced an international tender for the project in 2005. Bids were presented in September 2006 and, in October of that year, the Serbian Capital Investment Ministry declared FCC-Alpine to be the winner, ahead of a number of international rivals including French companies Vinci and Bouygues.

The road is divided into three sections:

Belgrade-Pozega, linking the capital with south-western Serbia, close to the border with Bosnia. This 140-kilometre section will have to be built.

Horgos-Novi Sad (108 kilometres). The existing road will have to be widened by doubling the number of lanes.

Novi Sad-Belgrade (68 kilometres). This section is already built and operational. It generates toll revenues and will be delivered to the concessionaire when the concession commences.

Sections 2 and 3 form part of the Trans-European Network road E-75, linking the Baltic Sea in northern Poland to the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki, Greece.

This contract can be described as another success within FCC's business plan, which was implemented in 2005 with the firm support of the company's leading shareholder, Esther Koplowitz.

Within the plan, FCC acquired Austrian construction company Alpine Mayreder Bau, whose annual revenues exceed 2.1 billion euro. Alpine has a long track record in Eastern Europe.