The river Obnica, a tributary of Kolubara, caused significant damage in Valjevo, during the great floods in 2014. Although the help of the European Union (EU) to Serbia has been continuously arriving before, these floods have encouraged projects during which coastal fortifications, bridges, rehabilitated riverbeds and other measures to prevent disasters caused by floods have been built.

In the last six years, the EU has set aside more than 170 million euros for flood prevention, as well as for recovery and rehabilitation, and Valjevo is only one of the cities that has benefited from that money. The rivers Kolubara, Obnica and Jablanica are protected from floods in a total length of six kilometres.

Reconstruction of the coastal fortification in Valjevo is one of the most demanding endeavours in this sector, they said from Srbijavod. The real test was in June this year when the entire facility withstood the flood without any consequences, and the water flow was almost at the maximum level. All this led to the fact that Valjevo is probably one of the most protected cities.

To mark the completion of the works, the head of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Ambassador Sam Fabrizi, the director of the Austrian Cultural Center Adrian Feix on behalf of the embassy of that country, as well as the mayor of Valjevo Lazar Gojkovic, director of Srbijavod Goran Puzovic and director of the Office for Public Investment Management Marko Blagojević met near the Veselinovic bridge.

“I am glad to be in this city again. Last month, I was in Valjevo to meet with medical staff hired by the EU to fight COVID 19 in Serbia. On that occasion, I promised the mayor that I would come again, to mark the end of the project to protect the citizens of Valjevo from the flood. ”

The ambassador also reminded of the great floods in 2014, when the EU also showed solidarity for recovery from the consequences of the flood. At that time, 50 municipalities in Serbia and 1.5 million people were affected by this catastrophe.

Feix said that the lesson from 2014 is that everyone must be prepared for natural disasters.

“Prevention is better than cure is the slogan for future times. We must protect ourselves from nature, but also protect nature from us. “We also planted trees here today, because air protection is something we have to work on,” he said.

Blagojevic also warns of climate change as new normality.

“We owe a great deal of gratitude to the EU for the non-refundable funds, 170 million, which is a huge amount of money for us. We also owe our gratitude for flexibility, which is crucial. This river, which can now be crossed, it and its tributaries caused damage of one billion euros in Serbia in 2014. “These floods are a wake-up call, we cannot and must not forget them,” Blagojevic concluded.

Puzovic says that due to investments and works, Valjevo is now a safer city. The mayor of that city thanked the citizens of the EU for significant funds.

The EU has invested a total of 19 million euros in the flood rehabilitation and prevention project alone, while the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) has donated another half a million euros. With that money, the necessary works were performed in Obrenovac, Surčin, Valjevo, Paraćin, Svilajnac, etc. Prevention and readiness are basic ideas for reducing the risk of disasters.

After visiting the bridge by the Obnica River, Ambassador Fabrizi and other participants in the central city park planted several saplings of the tree, as a symbolic sign of friendship. Also, planting trees is a reminder of the fight against climate change. The guests then toured the pedestrian bridge over the river Kolubara, on which a mural was painted – a reminder to the citizens of Valjevo of their friendship with the European Union.