Focus on Serbia: Removal of Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) in the Serbian Danube and the Sava River

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The launch of an EU funded project of the EC Delegation to the Republic of Serbia (EC DEL) in cooperation with the Serbian Mine Action Centre is underway. The goal of this complex project will be to support Serbian authorities to deal with the problem of locating unexploded ordnances and removing them from the Danube and Sava rivers. While it is only expected to start within the next two years, the preliminary proceedings based on the results of a feasibility study already started in May 2008.

The project, initiated by the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) and now managed by the EC DEL, results from the long term cooperation between the EAR and the Mine Action Centre – one that dates back to 2005. This joint effort involves a survey and search of parts of the two rivers (riverbed and river banks), which will be carried out according to international rules, regulations and standards. In 2006 an initial inspection of the locations of these UXOs was funded by the EAR and the Mine Action Centre supervised the activities.

The first step in the implementation of this complex project will be a detailed survey locating and identifying the UXO on a 600.000 m² of river; 12 locations have been identified on the Danube and the Sava. In a next step, should the project receive sufficient funding from the Serbian government and in the framework of the IPA programme, the UXO recovered will be removed. The local port authorities of Pancevo, Smederevo, Prahovo, Sremska Mitrovica, Apatin and Backa Palanka are also involved in the project. This UXO removal operation is expected to involve costs of about 3 million Euros.

Source: Zoran Lukic, Editorial: via donau