BELGRADE – According to the agreement on the bridge over the Ibar River in Mitrovica, which was initialed in Brussels on August 25, the bridge is to be reconstructed and opened to traffic by the end of June next year at the latest.
The conclusions of the working group for the freedom of movement/ bridge, released by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, state that both sides asked the EU to restore the Mitrovica bridge and its surroundings, in line with the recommendations based on the technical assessment and the architectural project of June 29, 2015, on which both sides had agreed.
The bridge will open to traffic by next summer, at the latest by end of June 2016, the agreement specifies.
Serb representatives in northern Kosovska Mitrovica decided in June 2014 to remove the roadblocks they had put up on the bridge three years before in order to protect themselves from incursions by Albanian extremists, and set up a “peace park” instead.
The park on the main bridge in that city, divided into the northern, Serb, and the southern, Albanian part, has sparked off a long-standing dispute between the two parties.