The Waterways Directorate of the Czech Republic Connecting by Inland Navigation Conference Wrocław 2018 „Lubomír Fojtů Director of the Waterwazs Directorate CZ fojtu@rvccr.cz +420 724 997 379

Inland waterway transport benefits reduction of the environmental impact of the road transport cargo ports in industrial and agricultural areas cheap transport mode for general and bulk cargo - overdimensional and heavy cargo - automobiles, agricultural products - feed and fertilizers, chemical products - iron scrap, coke, coal, LNG etc. price regulator of transport costs free competition in transport tool for better competitiveness of the industry just-in-time transport (subject to good navigation conditions) state security for raw material

The comparison of the environmental impacts The water transport is economical and environmental friendly 1/6 of the road transport price The comparison of the environmental impacts 1/7 of the road transport in terms of the external costs 3 times more fuel efficient than the road transport

Waterway network of the Czech Republic Labe - Vltava waterway core network TEN-T – class IV, Va 338 km Upper Vltava 146 km – class I Baťa canal 72 km – class 0

History of the weir and lock Decin

Weirs and locks on the Lebe-Vltava waterway 1898 - 1977 Weirs and locks on the Lebe-Vltava waterway 2005 process EIA started 2010 EIA documentation finished and sent to the Czech Ministry of Environment

2010-2016 the EIA documentation several times sent back to the Czech Wateways directorate for revisions and changes extensive mitigation measures worked into the documentation 2016 new Natura 2000 area created directly in the place of the weir and lock and around the backwater section 2015-2016 new Concept of the Czech Waterways for the period 2016-2023 The weir and lock Decin is a parto of the Concept

2017 SEA to the Concept (worked out on order of the Czech ministry of Environment) stated a negative environmental impact of the Weir and lock Decin so that the government can approve the Concept including the project of the Weir and lock Decin, it is necessary that: the government approves an overwhelming public interest in building the weir and lock over environmental protection, mitigation and compensation measures have to be set

resumption of the works on the EIA documentation 2018 government confirmed the overriding public interest in building the weir and lock Decin and assigned to the Minister of environment to set the extend of mitigation measures untill the end of June 2017 7/2018 resumption of the works on the EIA documentation 2023-2025 realisation of the weir and lock Decin

History of the DOL connection

1375 1653 1873 1 try to connect Danube+Elbe - Charles IV Main purpose - transit of cargo from Venezia to Brugg 1653 decision of the Moravian land assembly to make the Morava river navigable and to connect it with the Oder river this decission was supported by the Roman-German emperor and the King of Bohemia, Ferdinand III. De facto this is the first official step to the D-O-L connection 1873 1st project of the D-O connection by prof. Oelwein and ing. Pontzen. It was designed for vessels up to 250 tons. The route turned from Danube to the north by Grossenzendorf (eastern of Vienna) and led alongside the right bank of the Morava and Becva rivers further to the Odra valley towards Bohumin. The project was approved by both chambers of the Austrian parliament in Vienna

1893 Department of research and building of channels created at the Ministry of Commerce in Vienna - worked out a project of the connection of Danube-Oder-Elbe-Vistula-Dnestr connection 1901 new Waterways law issued in Vienna - stipulated, that the realisation of the D-O-L connection should start in 1904 and should last 20 years 1918 the break-up of the Austrian Empire, founding of Czechoslovakia

1919 1922 1931 Czechoslovak Waterways law Versailles Treaty - Foundation of the Elbe Commission with headquarters in Dresden 1931 new Waterways law, beginning of construction works - weir and lock in Koblow on the Oder river - memorial plaque with inscription: the first lock chamber on the Danube-Oder Chanel

1938 German-Czechoslovak protocol setting the construction of D-O-.L connection 1943 all construction works on the D-O-L connection stopped 1949 D-O-L connection declared by the communists as useless the Waterways directorate in Prague closed

1966 1971 1998 the idea of D-O-L connection reborn, new D-O-L general solution study 1971 government decission about territorial protection of the D-O-L corridor 1998 establishing new Waterways directorate of the Czech Republic, creation of the Polish-Czech international working group OKO

consolidation of all the previous studies - new feasibility study 1998 - 2016 more than 50 studies about various aspects of the D-O-L connection worked out 2016 consolidation of all the previous studies - new feasibility study 2018 feasibility study finished 2019… ?

Thank you for your attention The Waterways Directorate of the Czech Republic nábř. L. Svobody 1222/12, Praha 1 www.rvccr.cz