May 2022 Archives

Water supply and sewage for 80% of the territory of Smederevska Palanka

Posted on 30. May 2022. by administrator

Minister of Construction and Transport Tomislav Momirovic has confirmed during his visit to the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka that Smederevska Palanka is one of the 65 municipalities covered by the “Clean Serbia” Project, which will create conditions for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant.

With this Project, the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka will receive water supply and sewage on more than 80 per cent of its territory.

The biggest wastewater treatment factory will be constructed in Palanka, the other one will be for the villages of Kusadak and Ratari, third in Selevac, then Azanja, Bacinac, Stojacak and Golobok. Smaller villages will be connected to these seven plants.

Živković: Lajkovac and the surrounding villages will be covered by a sewage network

Posted on 25. May 2022. by administrator

President of the Municipality of Lajkovac, Andrija Živković has highlighted that the “Clean Serbia“ Project is one of the most important projects in this Municipality in the last few decades. The works in this Municipality have reached Phase two, and currently, the works are being carried out on the construction of a sewage network in Jabučje.

“Last year, we have started Phase one of the Project, completed Rubibreza where 4km of sewage network was constructed, and a few days ago the works on Phase two of the Clean Serbia Project have begun on a sewage network which will cover our most populated place after Lajkovac, the Local Community of Jabučje, where 26 km of primary sewage network will be built, however in the center of the village secondary sewage will be constructed for vital facilities located in the center of Jabučje, as well as for several hamlets like Negić, roundabout for Tomići“, says Živković .

He has stated that on the very section five pumping stations will be constructed for the purposes of the sewage networl. The plan is that the entire sewage network gets connected to the pumping station Borverk, which Lajkovac has constructed independently a few years ago. “From there, later on, it will go towards a wastewater treatment plant which is on the border of Lajkovac and Ćelije and which has entered this Project and will be completely re-constructed and operational soon. The next phase, the start of which we are expecting, is the construction of the primary sewage network and construction of a brand-new plant in Bogovađa. This Project is important for the whole of Jabučje because of how it raises the economic awareness of the residents and with this Project, all locals will get the possibility of connecting to a sewage network, becase it is the 21st Century and that is necessary for living“, says Živković.

With the implementation of the “Clean Serbia“ Project, more than 3000 residents of the settlement of Jabučje and around 2000 households will receive a sewage network. Živković has stated that he expects the works to last for the remainder of the year and to be completed with the start of 2023.

“All hamlets of Jabučje from Viš, Staro selo, Donji kraj, Gornji kraj, Gaj to Serinka will be covered by a primary sewage network. A big thank you to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Construction and its Minister Tomislav Momirović for recognizing the importance of the Project and Lajkovac being among first cities and municipalities to enter this Project and I hope that in the future we will have more good news regarding our municipalities. With the construction of this network, roads will be renewed on the territories where the sewage will be constructed, which will restore them to their original condition. That means that apart from the sewage network, road infrastructure will be upgraded as well and I expect the works to progress according to the planned dynamics“, says the president of the Municipality emphasizing that with the implementation of the “Clean Serbia“ Project, Lajkovac and its surrounding villages will bee 100% covered by a sewage network.

Green Municipality of Barajevo – 40 km of sewage network

Posted on 25. May 2022. by administrator

During his visit to the Municipality of Barajevo, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesic has a announced 40 km of sewage network which will be constructed under the “Clean Serbia” Project.

Deputy Mayor of Belgrade has especially emphasized the importance of two project in which the City of Belgrade is currently investing funds, a sports hall and a wastewater treatment plant, as of key importance for the development of Barajevo.

“The settlement of Gaj is the biggest urban settlement in Barajevo and we have invested 125 million RSD into this plant. It covers around 5,000 recipients i.e., treats nine liters of wastewaters per second and that way all wastewaters of this settlement will be treated and discharged in a purified state into the Barajevo river and the environment will no longer get polluted. The problem of the City of Belgrade is that around two-thirds of the city is covered by sewage, but at this moment, apart from a couple of smaller plants, we do not have wastewater treatment factories, so all our sewage gets discharged into the rivers Sava, Danube and other rivers untreated, which is unacceptable. That is why we are currently building three out of five wastewater treatment factories and a whole line of smaller plants like this one in Barajevo” says Vesic who has visited the plant which has started its trial operation.

A healthy environment is a key life element of every citizen, Vesic has especially emphasized and added:
“Within the ‘Clean Serbia’ Project we will build one more wastewater treatment plant in Barajevo itself and around 40 kilometers of sewage, which means that 40 per cent of Barajevo will be covered by this network. Some will say that is not enough, but 40 per cent is better than nothing, and considering the ruggedness of this municipality, a lot of time will be necessary in order to cover the entire municipality with sewage. We will probably address isolated settlements with these smaller wastewater treatment plants, which is much more logical than to lay dozens of kilometers of pipes which would lead to a larger plant “, says the Deputy Mayor.

His opinion is shared by the President of the Municipality of Barajevo Slobodan Adamovic who has stated that the Municipality of Barajevo declares itself as “Green Municipality”.

“We will work on addressing the environmental problems in the future as well, we have managed to enter the ‘Clean Serbia’ Project and have received designs for the construction of a wastewater treatment factory and new 40 kilometers of sewage network in the first phase of the Project” says Adamovic, among other things.

Minister Momirovic visits the works in Lazarevac

Posted on 23. May 2022. by administrator

Minister Tomislav Momirovic has visited the works on the construction of sewage network in Lazarevac within the „Clean Serbia“ Project. Currently, the works on the construction of 80 km of sewage network are underway.

„In these difficult circumstances everyone is stopping their investments and looking at an uncertain future, our goal is to carry through all investments and provide a better life for people, higher wages and pensions. I am glad to be in Lazarevac, in the local community of Susnjar, which is a third location in Lazarevac to be opened for works. The Government of the Republic of Serbia is working on a total of 80 km of sewage infrastructure in Lazarevac, and we are also building roads here”, says the Minister of Construction and Traffic Momirovic.

The works on the construction of the sewage network within the “Clean Serbia” Project in the Municipality of Lazarevac and at the location of Veliki Crljeni are going according to the planned dynamic and in accordance with the weather conditions and field requirements. So far 8,680.39 meters of brand-new sewage network has been built in the Municipality of Lazarevac, while at the location of Veliki Crljeni, 4,518.9 meters of sewage network has been built.

,,On the territory of the Municipality of Lazarevac almost nine local communities which have anticipated in the “Clean Serbia” Project are covered. Over 3500 households in these nine local communities will receive a sewage network, and a main wastewater collector is being constructed in the length of 5.7 kilometers Additionally, we are thankful to the Minister for the road infrastructure which is currently being built in the Municipality of Lazarevac” says Bojan Stevic, president of the Municipality of Lazarevac.

In the Municipality of Lazarevac, construction of 25,052.88 meters of sewage network and one wastewater treatment plant which will cover 40 000 residents is planned. Additionally, within the “Clean Serbia” Project, in the settlement of Veliki Crljeni, 52,597.59 meters of sewage network will be built, as well as a wastewater treatment plant which will cover 20 000 residents.

Works are going according to plan

Posted on 13. May 2022. by administrator

Works on the construction of the sewage network in 15 Municipalities and Cities with which the contracts were signed within the “Clean Serbia” Project are going according to the planned dynamics.

This year, signing of new contracts is planned, and that way the construction of sewage network will be possible in even more cities, which will also unequivocally raise the living standard of residents there and preserve the rivers in their immediate vicinity.

SN.	Site	What is worked on	Lengths being worked on now
1.	Lajkovac	Sewage	2,267.85
2.	Knić	Sewage	1711.83
3.	Kragujevac	Sewage	3808.5
4.	Krupanj	Sewage	874.83
5.	Kladovo	Sewage	Rtkovo/ 6755.26 m Velika Vrbica/ 7788.48 m Korbovo/7675.98 m Total: 22 219,72 m
6.	Lazarevac	Sewage	8.838.79
7.	Mionica	Sewage	125.89
8.	Obrenovac	Sewage	5,766.12
9.	Svrljig	Sewage	831.9
10.	Varvarin	Sewage	27,036.00
11.	Vranje	Sewage	4,030.00
12.	Kučevo	Sewage	7115 m
13.	Novi Sad	Sewage	23775
14.	Novi Bečej	Sewage	24773
15.	Banja Vrujci	Sewage	604.91

Due to the continuous decrease in the quality of waters, as well as due to the intensive and imbalanced use of waters in different regions and industries, which is not linked enough to the adoption of coherent practices of water recycling and reuse, the future availability of waters is in many regions jeopardized. That is way, on the threshold of the third millennium, water can be considered a strategic resource, as well as a trade good, and programs of sustainable water management must be implemented on local, regional, national and international levels (Teodosiu et al., 2003).

Construction of a Waste Management Center expected in Niš

Posted on 12. May 2022. by administrator

Works on the construction of sewage network, within the ’Clean Serbia’ Project are currently ongoing in Niš in three municipalities, at eight locations. Three locations are in Svrljig, one in Varvarin and four in Vranje. The Minister of Construction Tomislav Momirović has spoken during his visit to this city with the Mayor of Niš Dragana Sotirovski on the topic of regional landfill in Niš.

„One of the topics was the construction of a regional landfill, which is already planned within the ‘Clean Serbia’ Project, where 11 local self-governments are participating, including the City of Niš. Niš has allocated 16.5 million EUR from its local budget for this purpose, in order to, together with other local self-governments participate in the expropriation of land for the future landfill, which certainly means a lot for us, because that way we can partly close our old landfill and are helping the local self-governments address a long-term waste problem” says Sotirovski.

For the City of Niš a construction of a Waste Management Center with a thermovaluer is planned (a plant for co-incineration of solid mixed municipal waste) of the capacity up to 250 T/day, with all necessary accompanying contents (landfill, leachate treatment plant, administrative building…) The thermovaluer produces electrical energy and warm water, which can be used for heating of the facility. Contracted space area is 500,000m². Additionally, repair and recultivation of the existing sanitary landfill on the surface of 135,700 m² is planned. Regional Waste Management Center will be joined by the following municipalities and cities: Sokobanja, Prokuplje, Blace, Žitorađe, Kuršumlija, Merošina, Ražanj, Doljevac, Aleksinac, Svrljig and Gadžin Han. Number of residents covered by the Regional Center in Niš is 484,094.

Giaufret: EU has invested more than 400 million EUR for environmental protection in Serbia

Posted on 11. May 2022. by administrator

His Excellency Emanuele Giaufret, Ambassador and Chief of EU Delegation in the Republic of Serbia has especially emphasized in his blog post on the web page of the Ministry of European Integration ecology as a field of investment of the EU in Serbia. Giaufret states that there are funds but that the interest of Serbia for “Green Transformation” investment is also evident. Investments primarily pertain to wastewater treatment plants and solid waste management.

“Serbia has started the 2022 optimistically in terms of environmental protection after Cluster 4 was opened in December 2021 which includes transport, energy, Trans-European networks and the environment and climate change. In practice, the opening of negotiations for the Cluster of Chapters means that in these fields, substantial negotiations may commence. That also means that it is necessary for Serbia to continue investing significant effort in order to fulfill necessary terms for the closing of said Chapters” Giaufret writes in his blog post titled “The EU is a partner of Serbia on the Green Transformation Path”.

In one part of a blog post titled “Focusing on Serbia”, the Ambassador of the EU states that Serbia has expressed founded concern at the COP26 Conference regarding the financing of the Green Transition, providing energy security and support to the workers within the transition to green jobs and green industry.

“Goods news is that there are financial means. However, in order for ‘Green Financing’ to make sense, it is necessary to increase ambitions in the climate area. Climate ambitions of every country are reflected in the nationally determined contributions (NDC) which represent plans with goals of reducing emissions and adaptation usually up to 2030, and contain information on its fulfillment. Adoption of revised nationally determined contributions which Serbia has announced before the COP26 Conference is the best way to ensure access, not only to global funds in environmental and climate area and bilateral grants, but also to cheap Green loans and other credit funds. Substantial economic growth of Serbia and large investments in infrastructure are evident”, Giaufret says.

He also sates that Serbia currently spends three times more energy per unit of GDP than the EU average.

“Concurrently, we would have to work together adapting to already altered climate. We know from multiple studies that Serbia and Southeast Europe are in a region which is warming faster than the global average. That means that it will be greatly impacted by climate change and that children which are born today will probably experience the dramatic consequences of intensive floods, forest fires, droughts and huge blows to the economy. Farmers will lose their income and infrastructure like roads and railroads will suffer great consequences. Nevertheless, the price of absence of any reaction is far greater than the price of acting. Considering its sensitivity to negative consequences of climate change, Serbia could suffer losses amounting to 13 million Dollars by the end of this decade” Giaufret claims and states that Serbia needs more resistant crops, water storage systems (such as dams and reservoirs) as well as drainage systems. Furthermore, construction of wastewater treatment plants would reduce organic pollution of watercourses and lakes and would insure their sustainability due to increased temperatures and expected water shortages.

In order to initiate the Green Transformation, the European Union has prepared the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans which is a part of the economic and investment plan of the European Union for the Balkans.

“The EU for the Green Agenda in Serbia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, UNDP, the Swedish Agency Sida and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will help Serbia to improve policies, take concrete measures and increase Green Transformation investments. It is a program worth 8 million EUR for the reduction of air pollution, combating biodiversity loss, support for firms to become more circular etc. Many people in Serbia are becoming increasingly more worried for the environment. Recent demonstrations organized in the country against, for example, air pollution show that these questions are gaining more importance” the Ambassador claims.

Giaufret has dedicated a particular segment of his blog to specific investments so far the EU has made to Serbia in the area of ecology. Wastewater treatment plants are in the first place:

“The European Union supports the acquisition process of Serbia in terms of environmental and climate agency in three main directions:

Investments: So far, the EU has invested more than 400 million EUR in environmental protection. Serbia has added 200 million EUR to that which makes for 600 million EUR in total for water supplying, wastewater treatment plants, biodiversity protection and solid waste. EU has invested an additional 90 million EUR for flood recovery, flood protection and reduction of unfavorable weather risks. The EU financing is significant and it is a key quality of the EU expertise. We also need:
Political dialogue with the Government, Municipalities, and the civil society;
Investing in people and institutions in order to increase the capacities on the national and local level, build and conform the legislation with the European acquis”, Giaufret has singled out.