Money for a project started by Ceausescu

The contract for the Siret-Bărăgan channel will be signed within a week and in two months the works on this construction will begin, said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on Tuesday, Florin-Ionuț Barbu. The statement was made at the eighth edition of Foodinforum, an event representative for agribusiness, food production, drinking production, retail and Horeca.

‘If we talk about the Siret – Bărăgan channel, I was the promoter of implementing this program. Probably, in a maximum of one week the contract is signed and in two months the works will begin on the Siret Bărăgan channel, at least 35 km, where almost 400,000 hectares we will irrigate, on the fourth and fifth pumping, water we bring from the Danube, « said the minister.

At the end of February, the minister declared for AGERPRES that there are commitment credits provided this year for the main irrigation infrastructure, including for the Siret-Bărăgan channel, which amounts to 2.8 billion lei, and for the 41 arrangements there are one billion euros.

‘We have to make investments on the main irrigation infrastructure, where the farmers have accessed European funds. We have commitment loans 2.8 billion lei, for new contracts, including for Siret – Bărăgan, and one billion euros for the 41 arrangements that we currently have to work. So far we have 1.4 million hectares and complementary we have had 500 million euros from the strategic plan for secondary irrigation infrastructure, through which another 680,000 hectares will be rehabilitated, with irrigation equipment. This is a support of 1.5 million euros without co -financing, including VAT is eligible, « Barbu said.

The Siret – Bărăgan magistral channel, a project started in 1986 on the Siret river, between the Călimănești dam and Dridu Lake, had to be 198 kilometers long. His construction was to bring economic benefits on three levels: the water insurance for irrigation in Bărăgan, the reduction of the risk of flooding in the Siret meadow and its use as a route for the transport of goods. In 2012, it was estimated that in order to carry out this project it would need an investment of 3.5 billion euros, and its completion could have ensured the irrigation of 10% of the agricultural land of Romania. This, however, entered a process of continuous degradation of the works in various phases of execution, being necessary the emergency intervention through rehabilitation, modernization and enhancement works.