It will make more use of the Elbe waterway for environmentally friendly freight transport, combine transport use with water management needs and preserve valuable natural space.
"The Elbe is an important European river for which the Czech Republic is responsible together with Germany.
"Navigability of the Elbe will allow the operation of ecological water transport and improve conditions for international trade and tourism in the Czech Republic. For us, the willingness of the German side to secure problematic sections and guarantee the necessary depth for navigation is also crucial.
"For the first time, the agreement also gives some certainty for planning investments in water transport and port infrastructures. Together with my colleague Minister Andreas Scheuer, we look forward to signing it," says Transport Minister Karel HavlÃÄek.
On the Czech side, the parameters of the fairway resulting from the currently valid conceptual documents in the field of inland navigation are to be prepared on the Elbe section from Usti nad Labem to the state border between the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany.
In the follow-up section between Usti nad Labem and Týnec nad Labem, the existing parameters of the waterway with a navigational depth of 230 cm will be ensured, and at the same time in the section between Týnec nad Labem and Pardubice measures will be provided to allow a navigational depth of 230 cm up to the final port in Pardubice.
On the German elbe section, the current maintenance goal is a fairway depth of 140 cm, which corresponds to the German strategic document entitled Overall Elbe Concept.
In addition to the parameters of the fairway in the Czech Republic and the Territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Agreement provides for the establishment of a Joint Commission to monitor the parameters of the fairway and propose measures to improve it.
The Ministry of Transport will start negotiations with the German side on the port territory offered by the City of Hamburg to Czech Republic for exchange for land in ports that Czech Republic has acquired for 99 years for lease by signing the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty. ■