After meeting with the Austrian president, Miloš Zeman joked last spring: when it came to the Danube – Odra – Elbe canal, he would not let Alexander Van der Bellen speak.
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It is said that the Czech president convinced him so intensely that this controversial, multibillion-dollar investment, which Zeman had been dreaming of for many years, would really pay off.
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The Austrian president then diplomatically pointed out that the Czech side still lacked a highway to Vienna.
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This meeting from last April is now up to date again – it is possible to show one big risk of the Danube – Odra – Elbe project (abbreviated DOL, as experts call it).
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Although the government approved two weeks ago that it took note of a comprehensive study, the conclusion of which is: an investment of 614 billion will clearly pay off. And that he will have another study on the impact on the environment of the part of the canal that concerns the river Odra, on which large ships could sail from the Ostrava region to Poland.
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This is also the first part of the Zeman-pushed megaproject, which, according to optimists, could start construction after 2030.
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If the study concludes that the Oder route will not harm nature and the state will have the necessary 15 billion for this part of the canal, ideally, construction can really begin in 10 years.
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However, other plans run into Austria. There is a real danger that the three rivers, the Danube, the Odra and the Elbe, will never be truly connected. Because Austrians have long refused to participate in this international project.
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It could happen that although Ostrava will be connected to the water corridor and it may be possible to extend the canal further south through the river Moravia.
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But then the intention would run into resistance from the Austrians, who have something to say about the connection with the Danube. In other words, the state would spend tens of billions on a hugely financially, organisationally, and structurally demanding project that fails to complete to its original ideas and calculations.
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“It is not a priority for Austria,” confirms Petr Forman, a shipping expert and former adviser to President Zeman.
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“It is practically impossible to communicate with Austria today,” says Jan Skalický, chairman of the Danube-Oder-Elbe Association and one of the most vocal supporters of the project.
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The truth is that the corridor would not pass directly through Austrian territory. However, he would walk – simply – through the Morava River on the border between Slovakia and Austria. This means that Austria would also be a party to the environmental impact assessment for this part of the channel.
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Austria could talk, for example, on the question of whether the canal will not take water from the Danube.
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The Ministry of Transport claims that it is in contact with the Austrian side because of this. When the List of Reports asked about the number of meetings and their outcome, the ministry only generally referred to the meeting of the two presidents.
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“From a transport point of view, our project is not acceptable for them. However, due to the experience with high water, the path can lead through the ability of the planned construction to reduce the consequences of floods. In short, the Austrians said that if something makes sense in the discussion, it is these water management influences, “said Deputy Minister of Transport Jan Sechter, otherwise also the former ambassador to Austria, in an interview with the Idnes.cz server last week.
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Like slicing salami
Proponents of the corridor know that Austria’s opposition is a serious complication for connecting the three rivers. At the same time, however, they say that this does not prevent the project in the north of Moravia from starting with the already mentioned Oder branch, which according to them is not as long as other parts and so technically complicated.
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Therefore, the construction could theoretically start in ten years, when everything runs smoothly. In the meantime, prepare other parts and continue to persuade the Austrians. At the same time, continue to build a corridor on the Morava River towards the southern border.
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“It’s a typical salami method,” notes ecologist Jan Zeman, who is working on the project.
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“But that’s how every big building was built. Our ancestors also built the weirs on the Elbe gradually, “says Jan Skalický from the Danube – Odra – Elbe Association.
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Other experts say that if nothing more, even the route from the Czech Republic along the Oder to Poland (and then probably further to the sea) would be beneficial for shipping. Moreover, Poland – unlike the Austrians – wants to connect with the Czech Republic by water.
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However, this is opposed by a feasibility study commissioned by the Ministry of Transport in 2014 and presented its conclusions the year before. By the way, the study cost 22 million.
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Extensive material of several thousand pages in short says that the economic benefits would outweigh the costs.
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For example, he says that the new water corridor has a huge transport potential – 146.4 million tons of goods per year could theoretically travel across Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia on all three branches of the canal. Converted to a conceivable number, that would mean 16,050 fewer heavy cars on the roads every day.
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In addition, there are other benefits for tourism, recreation, water management or fishing.
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And is it still worth it?
However, if in the end we managed to build only a connection with Poland and not with the Danube (or also with the Elbe, which is technically the most difficult task, because in fact a new river would have to be dug from Moravia towards the Elbe), then the conclusion from the economic feasibility study fell. Because the study takes into account the overall effect of the entire DOL project, including the connection over the Danube.
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“Without the Danube, the canal will no longer make sense economically,” warns ecologist Zeman, and Forman’s former waterway adviser agrees. “It’s true that when the assessment was made only for the connection with Poland, it was not economically viable,” says Forman.
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But it immediately brings an explanation: the studies only considered transport from the Ostrava region to the sea, they did not take into account how much freight transport between individual cities in Poland would bring. According to Forman, if this overall model were used, the Odry branch would be in the red.
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Although it is easiest to start building on the Oder and the date is not certain at all, a recent government resolution supporting the project was enough, and there was an immediate sharp response from politicians in the Moravian-Silesian Region.
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According to them, it is nonsense to build a canal when no one has any idea what the industry will look like in thirty or forty years – if there will be anything to drive on the water at all. And that the idea of the river as an important transport artery is a return to the time of Empress Maria Theresa in the time of motorways and high-speed lines.
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“In such a situation, planning such long-term projects worth hundreds of billions, fundamentally changing the landscape, is a complete gamble. We therefore consider any steps in favor of the DOL project to be extremely irresponsible, ”says eighty scientists, including experts in ecology and landscape, agriculture, water management or biologists, botanists and regional development experts.
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Jan Skalický, head of the Danube – Odra – Elbe Association and the main lobbyist of the canal, answers: “Destroyers always have it easier than builders.” He adds that all problems with nature, landscape and ecology can be solved. And that the canal would have one great benefit that so far even the study has not captured even the opponents: it would bring water to an increasingly dry Moravia.
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List The report already demonstrated in a series of articles last year that politicians do not really want to study the study itself or the specific preparations for the construction of the corridor. Everything the ministers did was just to rock President Zeman in style: as long as Zeman saw that work was at least on the eye of the DOL, he would remain calm.
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Jan Skalický claims that this has not been true for a long time – that most members of the government and other politicians either understood that the channel was necessary or that this belief would be reached in the future. According to him, there is no danger that today the government is going to examine the impact of the corridor on the Oder and its surroundings, but next year the new Minister of Transport may stop everything with one cut of the pen after the elections.
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“It simply came to our notice then. Things are so far away that it would blow him away, “Skalický thinks.
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