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 do cument 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.
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.
