BELGRADE (Serbia), May 27 (SeeNews) – Serbia's infrastructure ministry said on Wednesday that it has launched a project for the removal of WWII shipwrecks from the Danube river near the port of Prahovo, financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The ministry has signed a 1.5 million euro ($1.7 million) contract with a consortium of Germany's M&P Ingenieurgesellschaft and Serbia's Millennium Team for locating and testing munitions on WWII German ships sunken near Prahovo, it said in a statement.
"First, let us finally determine what explosives and munitions and in what quantity there are on the 23 sunken ships, which is a precondition for us to be able to safely start removing the ships next year, for which we will set aside 23 million euro," infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said.
In November 2018, the EIB provided a 100 million euro loan to improve the functioning of the inland waterways navigation along Danube and Sava rivers in Serbia, including the removal of the shipwrecks.
"With the implementation of this project, we will contribute to the faster and more efficient transporation of goods to the EU countries, which is important for the Serbian economy," the EIB head for the Western Balkans region, Dubravka Negre, said in the statement.
In February, Serbia's infrastructure ministry invited bids for the preparation of technical documentation for expansion of the port of Prahovo. The expansion should allow for the transhipment and storage of at least 2 million tonnes of bulk and general cargo, which will make the Danube port eligible for inclusion in the Core TEN-T river port network.
($ = 0.907416 euro)