The kick-off conference of the project SAWA – “Rehabilitation of SAva river WAterway - Section Račinovci to Sisak” was held in Slavonski Brod

The kick-off conference of the project SAWA - "Rehabilitation of SAva river WAterway - Section Račinovci to Sisak", organized by the Inland Navigation Directorate of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, was held on Tuesday, May 12, at the Slavonski Brod County Chamber of Commerce. The total value of the project is €8,972,031.25 (including VAT), and it was co-financed through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) with a co-financing share of €6,100,981.25 (excluding VAT).

The development of study and project documentation is planned to be carried out in the period until October 2028 as a prerequisite for the development and upgrading of the Sava River Waterway to the IV. class of navigability in order to achieve the specific objectives of the Project:

• improving the Sava River for navigation to meet the minimum requirements prescribed by the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance (AGN),
• enabling the Sava River's navigable route to reach its full development potential, contributing to the overall development of the inland navigation sector in the Republic of Croatia and the European Union,
• ensuring continuity of the TEN-T network between an EU Member State and an EU candidate country.

The participants were welcomed by the Business Secretary of the Slavonski Brod County Chamber of Commerce Tomislav Tekić, who emphasized that the presentations of projects aimed at supporting economic development, such as the SAWA project, are always welcome at their premises.

In her opening remarks, the Assistant Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republika Srpska Vesna Vožni said how important the Sava River is for the entire cross-border area and emphasized that the Ministry monitors and supports navigation improvement projects, and will continue to monitor this project actively during its implementation.

The Director of the Directorate for Inland Navigation, from the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia Duška Kunštek said that the SAWA project is not the first Sava River revitalization project co-financed by EU funds and pointed out the importance of the Sava River on international transport corridors. Director Kunštek also addressed the challenges of the project implementation given its cross-border character and the fact that the project also involves an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The presentation on the preparation and planned activities of the SAWA Project - "Rehabilitation of SAva river WAterway - Section Račinovci to Sisak" was held by Andrija Spaić, Head of the Regional Office for Waterways in Vukovar, Directorate for Inland Navigation. The presentation pointed out the numerous activities in preparing the documentation for obtaining construction permits for future works on critical sections for navigation and the challenges that will be posed by coordination with the competent authorities and the involvement of all stakeholders in the cross-border area.

Complementary projects of the International Sava River Basin Commission through the presentation "Development of hydrological basis and models for the needs of Sava River Basin Management" were presented by Krunoslav Sopček on behalf of the International Sava River Basin Commission, which is also an Associated Partner of this project.

The kick-off conference of the project was attended by around 30 stakeholders, representatives of the aforementioned ministries, the Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, Croatian Waters, the Port Authorities of Slavonski Brod and Sisak, the Harbormaster' Offices of Slavonski Brod, Sisak and Brčko, Brod-Posavina and Sisak-Moslavina Counties, and the International Sava River Basin Commission.