The Rhine-Danube Corridor provides the main east-west navigation link across Continental Europe. One branch connects Germany to the Black Sea; a second branch leads to Ukraine. Its extension into the Western Balkans is via the Sava River.

This project involves the demining of 40 km on the right bank of the River Sava in Bosnia and Herzegovina to comply with safety and navigability requirements. The EU funds the demining works under Flagship 1 - Connecting East to West - of the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans through the WBIF.

On 3 June, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Ministry of Finance and Treasury signed a €8.27 million grant agreement with the World Bank to finance the first phase of the development. The grant is provided by the EU through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) and comes in addition to a €30m World Bank loan. The project will be implemented with the support of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Communication and Transport Ministry.

In addition to demining the right bank, this project will enhance flood protection and strengthen cross-border cooperation in the water management of the Sava and Drina corridors. It is also complementary with on-going activities for the modernisation of Brčko Port, which is also in receipt of a € 3m WBIF grant.

These investments are part of the Sava and Drina River Corridors Integrated Development Programme (SDIP), designed to facilitate joint water management and economic development. SDIP will be implemented in two-phases programmatic with five participating countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia.

One key objective of the SDIP programme is the development of the Sava River on a transboundary basis for the promotion of multimodal transport, which is a priority of the countries along the river. The improvements on the Sava River, as an international waterway, in line with the EU standards, which covers the Comprehensive and the Core Network of Inland waterways and ports of the Western Balkans region.

More about the project here