Third regular consultations with Groups completed

Port Governance Agency held its second regular annual consultations with the Group for inland shipping and Group for ports and harbors.

The meeting was attended by an assistant Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, representatives of the Directorate for Inland Waterways, the Authority for Determination of the Seaworthiness and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Vuk Perović, acting director of the Agency, stressed that consultations became a serious forum, and all participants have opportunity to share their opinion. He said that significant progress in this area is visible, and that a common goal - developed, regulated and competitive water transport in Serbia is much closer.

Regarding the results of the Agency in 2017, Perovic stressed that, besides the determination of port areas, one of the priorities was the development and promotion of passenger terminals. He reminded that in 2017 passenger terminals in Smederevo and Kladovo got their first operators, and that they are ready for the first cruisers in the next nautical season.

Despite the unfavorable weather conditions, freight transport recorded a certain progress, Perović said. According to him, it is expected that quantity of reloaded goods on Serbian rivers will amount to 10 million tons.

"Agency will be focused on development projects in the following period. We decided to invest funds in port areas and infrastructure through our budget. We will continue to encourage the strengthening of domestic line traffic, along with cruising", Perovic concluded.

Assistant Minister Veljko Kovačević said that the 2017 was as a successful year. He stressed that the cooperation between the Ministry and the Agency was good and oriented towards creating favorable conditions for business in the field of water transport.

Kovačević announced the implementation of important projects, including the expansion of the capacity of the port of Smederevo, work on of technical documentation and the commencement of the construction of a new port in Apatin, as well as the spatial plan for the new port in Belgrade. He also highlighted the adaptation of the lock on Djerdap, the digging of six critical sectors on the Danube and the improvement of the marking of the waterways.

"By adopting amendments to the Law on Navigation and Ports on Inland Waterways, the basis for the adoption of new bylaws will be created, which will regulate the field of inland navigation. I am pleased to announce that in the new Budget Law, for the first time, about 100 million euros will be defined for the development of water transport, and that money will finance the realization of the most important projects.", Kovacevic underlined, and said that the cooperation of all participants in water transport is a precondition for development.