A meeting was held with representatives of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the line ministry in the south Serbian city of Niš yesterday to discuss the implementation of the Niš Wastewater Collection and Treatment Project, according to a statement on the city’s website.

Out of 600 plots of land needed for the construction of a wastewater treatment facility under the Niš Wastewater Collection and Treatment Project, 500 have already been expropriated, said Niš Mayor Darko Bulatović.

The future facility will boost wastewater treatment capacities and enable removing more than 20,000 tonnes of silt from the Nišava river, according to the statement.

The Niš Wastewater Collection and Treatment Project has 6 key components with an overall assessed value of more than EUR 50 million, covering a 35-kilometer municipal sewerage network and wastewater treatment at the water treatment plant.

The development of the necessary infrastructure in the field of water and wastewater management in Niš has been enabled by Sweden, the largest bilateral donor in Serbia in the field of environmental protection. SIDA’s representatives said at the meeting that the process of securing technical documentation for the project is progressing well, according to the statement.

According to official data, Serbia treats only about 8% of municipal wastewater. By 2041, the country should fully align with the EU standards in the field and build 320 municipal wastewater treatment plants.

MoU inked in 2017 marked start of work on technical documentation

The Memorandum of Understanding signed on March 15, 2017, by the ministry in charge of environmental protection and the City of Niš, marked the start of work on technical documentation for the Niš Wastewater Collection and Treatment Project.

The preparation of technical documentation is financed by the government of Sweden, through SIDA, under the Priority Environmental Infrastructure for Development (PEID) program, according to the program’s website.

At the MoU signing ceremony, Bulatović said that he was certain that the construction of the wastewater treatment facility would begin in 2019.

Sweden is Serbia’s top bilateral donor in the field of environmental protection, with a total of EUR 100 million in investments.