EUR 28 million from IPA fund approved for wastewater treatment, waste separation

A total of EUR 28 million under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 2017 will be invested in wastewater treatment in Brus, Blace, and Kraljevo, as well as in waste separation projects in 19 municipalities in Serbia.

The agreement on the use of these funds was signed today in Brussels by European Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimović and Commissioner for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn. The total amount of aid stands at EUR 97 million, and the rest of the funds will be used for the Serbia-Bulgaria gas pipeline (EUR 49 million), as well as for participation in EU programs (COSME, Horizon 2020, Erasmus+).

According to IPA II 2014-2020 Serbia – EU Support to the Environment Sector, the total cost of the construction and upgrading of the Brus-Blace municipal wastewater collection and treatment system project is EUR 11.65 million and the foreseen IPA contribution is EUR 7.66 million.

The project includes rehabilitation and extension of existing wastewater collection systems and construction of new wastewater treatment plants for the Brus and Blace municipalities, where wastewater treatment plants are out of operation (Blace) or do not exist at all (Brus).

The project goal is to improve the water quality of the Blatašnica and Rasina rivers, and subsequently Ćelije Lake, which is a water reservoir that provides potable water for 120,000 residents of Kruševac, Varvarin, Trstenik, Aleksandrovac, and Ćićevac.

A similar project for the City of Kraljevo envisages integration of the existing wastewater collection systems serving the agglomeration of Kraljevo into a single sewerage system, rehabilitation of the existing sewers, and construction of a wastewater treatment plant.

The objective of the project is to reduce the pollution of local rivers and discharges of untreated wastewater into the rivers Ibar, Zapadna Morava, and other downstream rivers.

Amount of recyclable waste to be increased in 19 municipalities

Projects for waste separation envisage supply of equipment for source separation schemes.

The investment relates to the operation and capacity building of the regional waste management centers (RWMCs) in four waste management regions (Duboko, Pirot, Srem – Mačva, and Pančevo) in order to strengthen technical and organizational capacities for source separation of waste, which is currently not in place.

The equipment will enable local waste operators to organize disposal of different fractions on site and systematic collection and transport of waste fractions from households to recycling yards.

It is expected that the amount of recyclable waste in selected municipalities will increase and that the quantity of landfilled waste will decrease, also proposed as one of the top priorities in the revised Waste Management Strategy, the IPA II 2014-2020 Serbia – EU Support to the Environment Sector document reads.