The Danube-Bucharest Channel, for now an unfinished project, was planned to be part of the naval transport between Bucharest and the Black Sea, via the Danube River. The already finalized segment is believed to represent 70% of the entire project, but currently it is in ruins as works were put on hold after 1989. The re-initiation of the construction works is a very controversial project which has counted for many pros and cons along the years.
T he channel is designed to be 73-km long and 80-m wide, with the minimum water depth of 4.5 m, the le-vel difference (10 m above the sea level in Olteniţa and 63 m in Bucharest). The plan includes four gates and three ports, two in Bucharest (near 1 Decembrie village – on Argeş River and in Glina – Dâmboviţa River) and another in Olteniţa.
The project, abandoned in 1989, was passed in November 2008 from the administration of the Ministry of Environment (Romanian Waters Administration) in the administration of the Ministry of Transport (Administration of Inland Waterways) with the purpose of resuming construction works. The opponents of the channel argue high costs and negative environmentally friendly impact. On the other hand, the supporters of the project believe that the finalization of the channel would significantly reduce costs for freight transport and that it would facilitate this type of transport between Constanţa and Bucharest. Moreover, the channel would permit linking Bucharest to the pan-European Corridor VII, the Danube River.
Proposed several times for the re-initiation of works, figures remained unchanged, around 20 million tonnes of freight carried every year, irrigations for the central part of Bărăgan Plain, reducing flood danger for 30,000 hectares of tillable land, 11 localities and more than 6,500 households, 75 Gwh/year generated by the four gates.
Works could be finalized in four years, according to the previous estimates of the designer. But the value of the project is what oscillates more and not in favour of the project, even if we consider a European financing.
Therefore, costs amount to EUR 450 Million, estimated in 1997, and to EUR 2.5 Billion according to the declaration of the Romanian ministers in the past years.
Romania has submitted the project to the European Union for financing, as part of the Danube Region Strategy. Although the European Commission accepted this March the financing of Danube-Bucharest Channel, works cannot be launched without the prior approval of the ministers of Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE Committee) in the European Union.
Nevertheless, the utility of the project is questioned by several reasons. The most important of them would be the severe drop of freight traffic on the Danube River and, consequently, the reduction of port activities, which, at the moment, can justify the futility of resuming works.
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