The project, that will contribute to the fulfilment of the National Waste Management Strategy, will result in an overall improvement in the public health and environmental situation in the region.

EPTISA Regional Office for SEE has recently been awarded a new contract in the Republic of Serbia. The project, entitled “Preparation of a Feasibility Study, EIA, Conceptual Design, and Staff Training for the Construction of the Kolubara District Regional Landfill” and financed by the Spanish “Fondo de Estudios de Viabilidad (FEV)”, is aimed at the provision of collection, treatment and disposal facilities for the solid waste from 11 municipalities in the Kolubara district, serving a population of 440,000 inhabitants in the Valjevo region.

This project is of great importance as nowadays Valjevo, as the centre of the Kolubara district, does not have an appropriate sanitary landfill. Its development will undoubtedly contribute to the fulfilment of the National Waste Management Strategy adopted by the Serbian government in 2003. According to the Strategy, Serbia requires 24 regional landfills – 12 of which must be constructed by 2012, and the remaining by 2019.

The regional landfill in Valjevo will be the ninth landfill to be built to date, for which the Government of the Kingdom of Spain has granted 200,000 Euro for the preparation of the feasibility study and other necessary documentation. Once finished, this landfill will be one of the largest waste infrastructure projects ever constructed in Serbia and will become an example and replication model for future similar interventions. The final result will be the overall improvement in the public health and in environmental situation in the region.

EPTISA’s team of experts will be responsible for creating (1) a Feasibility Study that addresses all of the relevant issues concerning the collection and disposal of municipal waste in the municipalities, (2) the Conceptual design of a properly functioning efficient sanitary landfill and other facilities,  complying with the EU Waste Directive, and serving the needs the target municipalities for the next twenty years, (3) a Project Implementation Plan that will study and review the Public Utility Companies’ (PUCs) current financial and operational performance, as well as will identify and confirm the short term priority investment needs of the PUCs, and (4) an action plan of measures that the PUCs could undertake to improve their operational and financial performance and a training programme for the PUCs and Ministry staff.

It is important to underline that this project will be possible thanks to the generous contribution from the Kingdom of Spain and to the positive co-operation between EPTISA, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Serbia, and all the municipalities in the Kolubara district. Our most sincere gratitude to all of them.

For more information about this project, please contact EPTISA’s Regional Office for Southeast Europe at eptisasee@eptisa.com