USD 10.6 bln must be invested in environment

BELGRADE - Improvements in the field of the environment will cost around USD 10.6 billion, with USD 5.5 billion to be invested into solving the issues of waste water and water supply, Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic said on Wednesday.

This indicates how poorly developed our infrastructure is, in particular, the utility waste water system, which will require major investments, she told a panel discussion on environmental protection and the cost of compliance with EU standards.

One third of the regulations that Serbia needs to align to European regulations in the process of its EU accession are related to environmental protection, the minister said.

A decree on establishing a plan for reducing packaging waste in the period between 2015 and 2019 should be adopted by the end of this month to define objectives of reusage and recycling, she said.

The minister said that she expects RSD 1.5 billion worth of funds to soon be secured for recyclers, but added that the supervision system will be boosted as well.

For that purpose, the ministry will undertake the necessary steps and activities to improve the system of supervising the spending of the funds together with other relevant authorities, the minister said.

The program manager for Agriculture and Environment with the EU Delegation to Serbia Rainer Freund said that aligning environmental protection regulations to European standards is very important in the EU accession process.

It is particularly important to investors in this field as they need to invest in a stable and coordinated system, he said.

Seko-pak representative Violeta Belanovic said that the company has invested around...