Morava-Vardar Canal

The Morava-Vardar Canal is a proposed infrastructure project, linking the Vardar river valley in North Macedonia with the Morava river valley in Serbia. This waterway will allow linking the Danube basin countries to the Mediterranean Sea.

Route

The proposed 651 km route would link the Danube, via the Morava River, in Serbia with a 20 km canal across the border into North Macedonia, connecting with the Vardar river, which flows into the Aegean Sea near Thessaloniki. In addition to the new canal itself, long stretches of river would need navigation improvements. Currently, only the lowest 3 km of the Morava are navigable.

For shipping between the Adriatic and central Europe, this route would be 1200 km shorter than the current passage through the Bosporus the lower Danube.[1]

Planning

Detailed plans were drafted by the Nazi government in 1941,[2] in conjunction with navigation improvements on the Drava, Tisa, Begej, and Sava rivers, along with a Danube-Sava Canal.

Since World War 2, there have been a series of Serbian initiatives, hoping to build a Morava-Vardar Canal, with proposals and studies in 1961, 1964, 1966, 1973, and 1973–1980.[3] Subsequently, In 2012, the Serbian Minister of Natural Resources, Mining and Spatial Planning said that the project would be completed within eight years.[4] In 2013, the director of Serbia's State Agency for Physical Planning said that it was a realistic project and work would start shortly, with the Chinese government-owned Gezhouba Group Corporation.[5] This was one of the most important projects for the Government of Serbia at the time.[6]

Le Figaro published a Chinese-backed proposal in 2017: A 651 km route (including new canal and improved river navigation), expected to cost €17 billion.[7] The mayor of Thessaloniki called it a "dream".[8] As of 2018, one major obstacle to Serb proposals was the lack of intergovernmental agreements between Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, and Serbia; also, joint financing with the European Union appears unlikely.[9]

As of July 2023, no construction has started.

There are proposals to develop railways in the area, which would complement the canal.[10] There would be a strong stimulus to investment, especially in Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, and Kosovo.[11]

References
  1. Dumitrescu, George Cornel (2015). "Central and Eastern European Countries Focus on the Silk Road Economic Belt" (PDF). Global Economic Observer. 3 (1): 186–197. ProQuest 1690236357.
  2. "Die Wasserstraßen des Donaugebietes und der Nahe Osten" [The waterways of the Danube region and the Middle East] (in German). 1941. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Hussain, Nasir; Popović, Dejana Jovanović; Milinčić, Miroljub (May 2019). "Modelling the environmental concerns of constructing the Danube-Morava-Vardar-Thessaloniki Canal using General Morphological Analysis". Journal of Sustainable Development of Transport and Logistics. 4 (1): 6–16. doi:10.14254/jsdtl.2019.4-1.1. S2CID 210632950.
  4. "Танјуг: Милан Бачевић: Канал Дунав-Морава-Вардар највећи стратешки пројекат" [Milan Bačević: The Danube-Morava-Vardar canal is the biggest strategic project]. Нова српска политичка мисао (in Serbian). 11 August 2012.
  5. "Chinese Investors Warm to Balkan Waterway". Balkan Insight. 26 September 2013.
  6. Stepić, Milomir; Dragićević, Slavoljub (2014). "Belgrade Confluence: Geographical Predispositions and Geopolitical Significance". Serbian Political Thought. 9 (1): 49–65. doi:10.22182/spt.912014.3.
  7. Kefalas, Alexia (28 August 2017). "Athènes et Belgrade sollicitent Pékin pour relier le Danube à la mer Égée" [Athens and Belgrade ask Beijing to link the Danube to the Aegean Sea]. Lefigaro (in French).
  8. Ralev, Radomir (14 December 2017). "Chinese investors eye 17 bln euro waterway project in SEE - report". SeeNews.
  9. Ejupi, Arsim (December 2018). "The idea of Morava-Vardar water canal and its long-term geopolitical context". GeoScape. 12 (2): 84–91. doi:10.2478/geosc-2018-0009. S2CID 133994748.
  10. Antonopoulos, Paul (29 April 2021). "Thessaloniki positioning to become Balkan maritime gateway, bypassing Turkey and Danube Delta". Greek City Times.
  11. MIleski, Toni; Del Re, Emanuela C. (June 2013). "Geopolitical and geostrategic implication of possible navigable channel Danube-Morava-Vardar-Thessalonica" (PDF). Bezbednosni Dijalozi. 4 (1): 51–64. OCLC 9118273531.
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