Vucic Promises Negotin a 12.5 km Bypass and an Investor

Aleksandar Vucic, who heads the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list, addressed citizens in Negotin from a small truck on Tuesday evening, September 29, and promised that if the list wins voters’ trust in the October 25 election, he will try to finish the entire bypass around the town, 12.5 kilometers long, next year. Negotin was one stop on a tour of eastern Serbia, and alongside the bypass he pledged help in bringing an investor who would employ 350 people.

What exactly did he promise in Negotin?

Vucic opened by saying “a small truck is enough for me to come and address you,” then made the central promise:

The bypass around Negotin, that is what we promised, if we win your trust, we will try to finish the entire bypass next year.

According to Kurir’s coverage, the bypass would relieve Negotin, Samarinovac and Prahovo of what he said were 300 trucks a day. He estimated that the road’s exit would be “somewhere near Dusanovac, close to Dusanovac,” and added that it is “the most important of the infrastructure projects we have to carry out.”

Earlier the same day he spoke about the deadline differently. In Rudna Glava near Majdanpek he said the bypass, which will cost 40 million euros, “we will have to build in the future,” along with upgrading and rebuilding the Brza Palanka - Negotin road. In Negotin he narrowed the timeline to next year, but tied it to voters’ trust and to the verb “we will try.”

He gave no deadline for the road to Brza Palanka in Negotin. After the bypass, he said, “what remains for us is to rebuild the road to Brza Palanka, and then there are more roads in the villages.”

The health center and the investor

Vucic admitted that work on the health center in Negotin is moving more slowly than it should.

We are working, but sluggishly, I hope we speed it up and do it much better and more.

On renovating health clinics across Serbia, Kurir’s coverage has him saying: “We asked for money for 69 facilities in 60 administrations in Serbia. And that costs around a billion and 300 million euros.” Novosti reported the same figure in a different context, in the same appearance: Vucic asked whether it is a coincidence that so much money is being put into non-governmental organizations. The two outlets, then, differ on what the figure was attached to.

For the town itself he pledged help with jobs. As he put it, the most important thing would be a significant investor who would employ 350 people, and he promised:

I will do everything I can, if I become prime minister, to help on that and so that you have a more secure future

A 12-minister government and debates

The political part of the appearance was devoted to his opponents and to the government he would form. Vucic said the new cabinet would have 12 ministers instead of 31, a 12-minister government also being a theme of his appearance in Bor, which we covered. In Negotin he set a working-hours condition for ministers:

Don’t be a minister if you are not ready to work 10 hours, 12 ministers is enough to answer to the people, to go among the people every other day and to listen to you.

He accused the opposition of running from debates and presented himself as ready to face several opponents.

I go before the people everywhere, I am not afraid of questions, I accepted a 2 on 1 duel, they won’t. Bring three, four, five of them, I will beat them all!

In the reports we reviewed there is no response from the opposing side to these claims.

What else did he say on the tour?

Before Negotin, Vucic visited work on the Brestovac - Seliste road near Bor Lake, then Rudna Glava, Miroc, Kladovo, the village of Leskovac near Zajecar and Podgorac near Boljevac. In Miroc he spoke about water supply:

We will need 15 billion euros to solve the water problem in Serbia and two, three years to start solving those problems.

He also announced an expressway between Golubac and Brza Palanka, which he said would cost about two billion euros and start as soon as six kilometers around Golubac are finished. In Kladovo he said that if the list wins support, a contract for the Djerdap 3 hydropower plant could be signed by March, possibly sooner.

Fewer than four weeks remain until the October 25 election, so the promises made in Negotin, together with the condition of voter trust attached to them, can be measured only once a new government is formed.