Serbia’s Transport Minister Zorana Mihajlovic and Manfred Singer, the executive director of the German DSD Noel signed on Wednesday an agreement on the reconstruction of the navigation lock at the Hydro Power Plant (HPP) Djerdap 1 at Serbia’s part of the Danube River, worth 28.5 million Euros, the Beta news agency reported.

The European Union will secure 40 percent of the cost or 11,4 million Euros in non-refundable funds.

The German company was selected after the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved the procedure as being in line with the European standards.

The subcontractors will be two local companies – Feromont and Elektromontaza.

Mihajlovic said the state would allocate a total of 200 million Euros for water transport to secure the safety of sailing.

The works are due to start in September 2019 and should be completed in about a year. Singer said his company has recently finished the reconstruction of the navigation lock at the Romanian part of the dam.