18.06.2014

18.06.2014

POST RELEASE

The project of restoration of the waterway E40 was presented in Bydgoszcz, Poland

The initiative was presented by RUMCE “Dnepro-Bug Waterway” at the Second International Conference and Self-government Assembly “WaterWays Expo 2014”. The event was held in Bydgoszcz on June 10-12 and was focused on development prospects for the inland water connections  in Poland and Eastern Europe.

One of such prospects lies in resuming shipping along the waterway E-40. Its starting and ending points are Polish Gdansk on the Baltics and Ukrainian Kherson on the Black Sea, respectively. The unnavigable section of the water route is located between Warsaw and Brest on the Western Bug. To deal with this issue the EU-backed project “Restoration of the E40 waterway on the Dnieper-Vistula section: from strategy to planning” was launched in 2013. RUMCE “Dnepro-Bug Waterway” became its leading partner.

At the conference the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Development demonstrated its support for the project. In particular, the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development Dorota Pyć is willing to visit Belarus in order to learn how the Dnieper-Bug Canal has been modernized. The official’s interst in the Belarusian experience is not accidental. The Polish section of the E40 needs construction of modern hydro technical structures not only on the Western Bug (to ensure shipping), but on the Vistula as well in order to increase the transport capacity of the river and prevent devastating floods.

“Poland is striving to ease the transport burden on the ports of Gdansk, Szczecin and Gdynia and to find new opportunities for selling its goods. However, thanks to the restoration of the waterway E-40 Belarus and Ukraine will also be able to use new export channels. Besides, all the three countries will be able to increase the amount of transit cargo”, noted Nikolai Kotetski, the head of RUMCE “Dnepro-Bug Waterway”.

A special declaration which had been adopted earlier this year, on May 22, at the conference at Polish Sejm also evidences the growing interest of Polish officials and businesspeople in the reconstruction of the E40 waterway. The signers of the declaration supported the idea of resuming shipping along the entire water route and appealed to the president, government, Sejm and Senate of Poland to back the initiative.

Contact:
Andrei Rekesh, Secretary of Commission on the development of the E40 waterway on the Dnieper-Vistula section, tel.: +375 165 30 11 76, fax: +375 165 35 16 74, mobile: +375 44 785 13 58, e-mail: secretary@e40restoration.eu

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of RUMCE “Dnepro-Bug Waterway” and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.