Agreement signed for construction of sewage network and wastewater treatment plant in Belgrade’s Palilula

Minister of Environmental Protection Sara Pavkov and Minister for European Integration Nemanja Starovic signed an agreement for the construction of a sewage network and wastewater treatment plant in the Belgrade municipality of Palilula with EIB Vice-President Robert de Groot.

Pavkov emphasized that the implementation of that project solved one of the biggest environmental challenges in Belgrade - the discharge of untreated wastewater into the Danube.

– With the implementation of this project, Belgrade will for the first time receive a wastewater treatment system built to the highest European standards, and the residents of the left bank of the Danube, namely the settlements of Krnjaca, Borca and Kotez, a modern and efficient sewage system that will significantly improve sanitary conditions, quality of life and environmental protection. The plant will have a capacity of 86,000 population equivalents and will process more than 30,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day. With this project, we are finally solving one of the biggest environmental challenges in Belgrade, which is the discharge of untreated wastewater into the Danube – said Pavkov.

The minister emphasized that the project also represented a step forward towards fulfilling Serbia’s obligations under Chapter 27, Environment and Climate Change, as well as towards implementing the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans and the Economic and Investment Plan of the European Union.

– I am proud that, with the support of our European partners, we will enable Belgrade to obtain a wastewater treatment system for the first time, and that we will bring the highest European standards in wastewater management to Palilula – Pavkov instructed.

Let us remind that, if the announcements of officials from the republic and the city had come true, Belgrade’s settlements on the left bank of the Danube would have been largely interconnected by a sewage network and a wastewater treatment system. Because, ten years ago, in the Belgrade City Assembly, representatives of the current government, led by other political players, assured the public and political opponents that Belgrade’s settlements on the left bank of the Danube would certainly receive a modern sewage system by 2025 and that it would certainly be completed by 2025. But, on the ground, it was not exactly like that. It is not that nothing was done, but compared to those announcements, a small part of the work was done. In the meantime, the authorities in the city justified themselves with “force majeure,” that is, that the interested contractors did not want to work for the money offered for the job, but were asking for a larger amount for the planned work. The city unofficially sent out a message a few years ago that, as long as this was the case, the sewage construction project on the left bank of the Danube could not move forward from the deadlock because the job was not financed by the capital, but by a foreign bank that dictated the terms of the tender.

D. A.

Ministarstvo zaštite životne sredine Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo za evropske integracije Republike Srbije

Evropska investiciona banka EIB

Ministry of Environmental Protection

Ministry for European Integration

European Investment Bank

EIB

Sara Pavkov

Nemanja Starović

Robert de Groot

agreement for the construction of a sewage network and wastewater treatment plant in the Belgrade municipality of Palilula