That environmental protection is one of the priorities of the Government of the Republic of Serbia is unequivocally confirmed by the capital project “Clean Serbia” which was launched with the Chinese partners at the end of the summer. The Project, with the value of about three billion EUR, shall be implemented in around seventy municipalities throughout Serbia.
According to this national plan, Serbia needs to increase its energy efficiency and percentage of renewable resources in the production of electricity, as well as in the industry, heating and transport, and those ambitions shall be given voice in the future strategy of low-carbon development with an action plan and an integrated plan for energetics and climate, which shall be implemented soon.
Serbia only has one road map towards circular economy
According to that programme, Serbia shall in the following days invest almost six billion EUR into water management, out of which 4.3 EUR billion will be to prevent water pollution, and a billion and a half towards water supply. Within the scope of the first phase of the “Clean Serbia” project, 26 wastewater treatment plants and near 700 kilometers of brand new sewage network in 14 cities and municipalities shall be constructed.
“The plan of the Government of the Republic of Serbia is to construct municipal infrastructure in over 80 per cent of Local Governments within the next 5 years. We wish to invest into municipal infrastructure and wastewater treatment plants and therefore make our country significantly cleaner for the future generations”, says Tomislav Momirović, the Minister of Construction, Infrastructure and Transport, whose department is competent for the implementation of the “Clean Serbia” project.
Serbia is currently the only country in the region to prepare a road map for a circular economy, which gives guidelines for the development of a contemporary, resource and energy efficient circular economy.
Decades old problems to be solved in Novi Sad
The City of Novi Sad is included in the 14 Local Governments covered by the first phase of the “Clean Serbia” project, and it is the biggest individual municipal infrastructure investment project in the history of the city. The investments included in this project are of exceptional importance for all residents of Novi Sad and the environment they inhabit, because controlled drainage of waste waters and their treatment one of the most effective ways of preserving natural resources protecting the watercourses from pollution.
What is extremely important for the Serbian Athens is the fact that the construction of the Central City Purifier will be realized through this project and with that, decades old problem of wastewater treatment and river course pollution will be solved. The river Danube, as one of the symbols of the city and a favourite location for rest and relaxation of its citizens will be receiving in the near future, thanks to this project, only treated and clean waste waters, which will provide a much healthier environment for the future generations.
Only from the “Clean Serbia” project, over 180 million EUR will be invested into solving the problem of waste waters and construction of fecal sewage. Over 100 million EUR will be invested into the Central Purifier by which decades old problem will be solved, and in total, 92 fecal sewage networks shall be constructed thanks to the “Clean Serbia” programme.
Works have already begun in Kisač and Čenej
The implementation of the “Clean Serbia” project on the territory of the City of Novi Sad has begun with the construction of a sewage system in Kisač (in the length of 24,536 meters) and Čenej (in the length of 17,498 meters), by which the problem of discharging and overflowing cesspools will soon be only a bad memory for the residents of those two suburbs.
In the settlement of Čenej, apart from the fecal sewage, a separate wastewater treatment plant will be constructed, while the waste waters of Kisač will be drained to the Rumenka purifier.
The deadline for the execution of works on the territory of Novi Sad is 39 months, and the emphasis is on the resolution of wastewater problems in suburbs first, in order to improve the municipal standard in those areas.
Apart from Novi Sad, designing and execution of works on the construction of municipal (sewage) infrastructure shall begin as well at the following locations: Varvarin, Knić, Banja Vrujci, Krupanj, Lajkovac, Mionica, Kučevo, Svrljig, Kladovo, Lazarevac, Veliki Crljeni, Obrenovac, Vranje, Novi Bečej, Kragujevac.
