EU ready to finance environmental projects in Bor

The European Union sets aside around EUR 200 million in grants for Serbia, for projects in a wide variety of fields each year, Oscar Benedict, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, said in Bor on Tuesday, March 28, 2017. He also expressed readiness to finance an environmental project in the town.

– The living environment is a very important aspect, and we came here to see whether we could finance an environmental project in Bor – Benedict said for Tanjug.

He explained in his talks with the management of RTB Bor that he had made a working visit to Bor “in order to see what the environmental impact of RTB's operations is”.

– The European Union is generally not interested in the operations of Serbian companies, but the region, the people and employees in the region and, of course, ecology, are within its sphere of interest. RTB Bor is a big and important complex for the entire region, which is why I've come here to see firsthand how it operated – Benedict said.

He specified that he had come to Bor with a clear goal, as the 2017 program oriented to making less developed regions economically stronger was being prepared.

Director General of RTB Blagoje Spaskovski said that the only unsolved environmental issue in Bor was related to the tailings ponds reclamation. He reminded that the World Bank had once approved a EUR 40 million loan to the Government of Serbia for the purposes of rehabilitation of cultural heritage in Bor, but that the money had never been used for some reason.

Following his talks with the management of RTB Bor, Benedict and his associates took a tour of the new Smelter and the Sulfuric Acid Factory, where they were introduced to the clean copper smelting technology.

Before returning to Belgrade, the representatives of the EU Delegation to Serbia also visited the Jezero hotel on the Bor Lake.

Delegacija Evropske unije u Republici Srbiji Beograd

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

EU Delegation to Serbia

Oscar Benedict

EU grants

Rudarsko Topionicarski Basen Bor

RTB Bor

Blagoje Spaskovski

tailings ponds reclamation

Jezero hotel Bor

Bor Lake