Restoration of waterway between Black and Baltic seas via Belarus to begin next year
Belarus intends to work together with Ukraine and Poland to restore the water transport connection that will relink the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. The meetings in Pinsk, Brest and Lublin were held to discuss this issue. A special commission has been set up and a specification of requirements has been worked out, which has already been confirmed as compliant with European standards.
The feasibility study will be ready soon. “The document will then be submitted to international organisations and to governments of the countries concerned. We hope that we will make the transition from planning to construction,” noted Sergey Zubko, the Deputy Director General of Dneprobugvodput enterprise. An international tender has been already arranged, and a general contractor is being sought.
One of infrastructure objects of the Dnieper–Bug waterway
Mr. Zubko underlined that the implementation of this project will allow Belarusian water transport companies to switch from local transportation to international transportation. It will be possible to use river transport to carry construction cargo and containers, while also expanding passenger transportation services. “This future is now not as distant as it seemed to us in the past,” added Mr. Zubko.
The project to restore the water transport connection E-40 that will link the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea is to be financed by the European Union. The project is being implemented in line with the programme for trans-boundary co-operation of Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus in 2008-2013. According to preliminary estimates the project’s budget will be close to 1m Euros.
