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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Modernisation of heating plant, ash disposal site in Kragujevac

Kragujevac, 27 October 2021

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Minister of Environmental Protection Irena Vujovic visited today works on the modernisation of the district heating system, namely the construction of a gas boiler room in the Energetika heating plant in Kragujevac.

These works will introduce state-of-the-art equipment in line with European standards and enable transition to a more environmentally friendly source of energy. In addition to the Prime Minister and Minister Vujovic, the works were also visited by Kragujevac Mayor Nikola Dasic and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Director for the Western Balkans Matteo Colangeli.

Brnabic underlined that the decades-old problem of air pollution, which no one has tried to solve until now, will soon become past for all citizens of Kragujevac and reiterated that environmental protection, in addition to the rule of law, is one of the government’s two basic priorities.

In that field, the priority is solving the problem of air pollution, i.e. air quality protection, solid waste management and wastewater treatment.

The Prime Minister underlined that Kragujevac was one of the priorities in every sense, as a Serbian city with a high level of air pollution, which was in part caused by district heating with coal.

That is why I am glad that we are here today to mark the beginning of works on the change of boilers, which will have been completed by the end of this heating season, Brnabic said.

The Prime Minister stated that the project, worth €18 million, is being implemented in cooperation with the EBRD and added that so far €320 million have been allocated for environmental protection in Kragujevac alone, for three key projects.

The one is this heating plant, so that the people of Kragujevac no longer use heating with coal, but with gas and to clean the ash disposal site. Another huge problem is the Jovanovac illegal landfill, which has existed for 60 years, where we have to rehabilitate the land and make the Vitliste regional landfill, she specified and added that the project, which concerns solid waste only, will cost approximately €120 million.

According to her, the third major project is water protection, i.e. the construction of approximately 360 kilometres of sewage network and as many as three wastewater treatment plants, worth about €190 million.

In addition, she recalled the project of connecting to the central heating system in order to further reduce air pollution.

Brnabic announced that the "Super Computer" will soon be delivered to the State Data Centre in Kragujevac, emphasising that at that moment Kragujevac will become the centre of infrastructure for artificial intelligence in Serbia.

Vujovic underlined that the modernisation of the district heating system is the largest environmental protection project in Kragujevac, which will contribute to the reduction of air pollution and a better quality of life for citizens.

The Minister pointed to the very good cooperation with the EBRD and expressed gratitude to Colangeli and his team for understanding how important these environmental projects are for us.