Serbia plans to invest 55.5 million euro ($63.1 million) in the reconstruction of the ship locks of Djerdap 1 and Djerdap 2 hydropower plants (HPPs), infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said.
The investment in the reconstruction of the locks of Djerdap 1 alone will amount to 28.5 million euro and will be financed from the proceeds of a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Mihajlovic said in a press release on Wednesday.
“The Serbian government is investing 200 million euro in the development of water transport. Recently, we signed a contract for a 100 million euro loan from the EIB, and among the projects that will be financed is the overhaul of the ship locks of Djerdap 1,” Mihajlovic said.
Last week, the EIB said it agreed to provide a 100 million euro loan to Serbia to improve navigation on the inland waterways along the Danube and Sava rivers.
The reconstruction works of Djerdap 1 locks will start in September 2019 and will take about a year to complete, the director of the HPP, Dragan Maksimovic, said in the press release.
The Djerdap hydropower complex, located in the Iron Gate gorge on the Danube river, was built jointly by Serbia and Romania and commissioned in the 1970s. The Serbian part of the complex comprises Djerdap 1 and Djerdap 2 HPPs with an installed capacity of 1,058 MW and 270 MW, respectively.
Source; SeeNews
