Authors: Dragan Dunčić, MSc, BSc. urban planner, Director of Republic Agency for Spatial Planning; Jelena Lukić, BSc. urban planner, project manager Republic Agency for Spatial Planning
Editor’s note: This article is the abstract of the presentation given at the 24th Conference “Danube – River of Cooperation”, held on September 24 2013 in Belgrade.
The waterway Danube-Morava-Vardar-Aegean Sea is multifunctional project of high importance for the Republic of Serbia since the basin of the river Morava covers a significant part of the territory, including its largest cities, main corridors, population, agricultural land etc. Regulation of the river Morava and its tributaries by constructing the flood protection system, irrigation system, using their waters for water supply for surrounding cities and industries, exploitation of hydro energetic potential etc. would bring a lot of benefits to the development of whole Republic. Moreover, the construction of navigable waterway from Danube to Thessaloniki would be the shorten route Belgrade – Thessaloniki for approximately 1200 km if compared to the route running by the Danube, the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, while the river and canal transport, in general, has a lot advantages over rail and road traffic such as considerably low transport costs, large capacities, reduced number of employee, big advantages in loading and discharging, storage and maintenance of various types of goods and their safety in transit. Connected with the European canal network and Rhine-Main-Danube artery, the Morava-Vardar/Axios canal will have a great influence on the increase of economic benefit of the eastern and western Europe.
Dear Mrs. Karanovic, I can’t read Serbian language, but I hope we can communicate in English or German. I see you are working with the Danube cooperation forum – I’m editor of a German language weekly, Neue Solidarität, and I was part of the team that wrote the EIR studies on the “Productive Triangle Paris-Berlin-Vienna” in 1990/91 and, more recently, a blueprint for “An Economic Miracle for Southern Europe, the Mediterranean, Northern Africa and the Near East” (2012), which both included the proposal to build the Morava-Axios waterway.
Our report on the Greek (and Balkans) part of the “economic miracle” is in the following article (in German):
http://www.solidaritaet.com/neuesol/2012/25/griechenland.htm
On our paper’s website, we also have a whole dossier on great projects to mobilize the world`s economy, which includes articles on the “Productive Triangle project, and it’s enlarged European Landbridge successor:
http://www.solidaritaet.com/neuesol/grossprojekte.htm
Greetings from Wiesbaden
Alexander Hartmann
Dear Mr. Hartmann,thank you very much for your comment. I red the excelent article, in which I found a very good short description about the project-idea of the Danube-Aegean waterway. Let me quote that in original language, starting with this German quotation maybe a new, trilingual profil of our journal “Danubius” :)
“Seit Jahrzehnten liegt ein Projekt zur Verbindung von Axios/Wardar und Morawa, die östlich von Belgrad in die Donau mündet, in der Schublade. Die Verwirklichung einer solchen Wasserstraßenverbindung scheiterte bisher an den hohen Kosten und den technischen Herausforderungen, die damit beginnen, daß auf beiden Flüssen derzeit keine Schiffahrt stattfindet, obwohl sie die zentrale Achse von FYROM und Serbien bilden. Es gibt also weder von der Adria noch von der Ägäis eine Wasserstraße, die den Wasserweg Rhein-Main-Donau mit dem Mittelmeer verbindet. Es gibt nur die Schwarzmeerroute zurück ins Mittelmeer, wodurch der Umschlag von Massengütern eingeschränkt ist.
Viele Argumente sprechen gegen einen die Flußbecken verbindenden Kanal in diesem Korridor, weil u.a. der Bau zahlreicher Schleusen erforderlich wäre, aber heute sollte der Vorschlag im Lichte moderner Technologien und der regionalen Erfordernisse neu überdacht werden.
Unabhängig davon brauchen Morawa und Wardar (Axios in Griechenland) in ihren Flußbetten von der Wasserscheide an umfangreiche Infrastrukturverbesserungen – für den Hochwasserschutz, zur Entnahme von Trinkwasser und zur Bewässerung sowie für die Schiffahrt, wo immer möglich, ähnlich wie die meisten kleineren Flußläufe auf dem Balkan auch.”
Schöne Grüße aus Belgrad,
Edita Stojić Karanović
Dear Edita,
It’s a great idea. Hoping on the int. conference of Danube Basin Channels and Tributies planned in Timisoara (RO) on springtime of 2014 a presentation will be show by you or a state-officer. We can prepare this programme You, decan Cipriana and me in October?
BG
István