Preparations for navigation on the Odra river to Ostrava can start5/10/2020|Press releasesThe government acknowledged the results of the feasibility study on the Danube-Oder-Labe corridor and started with preparations for navigation on the water corridor from Ostrava to the Polish Koźle. Based on the time schedule approved, the channel should be completed by 2031. The EIA and negotiations on the border crossings with Poland and Slovakia will now follow. And the regional development plans also need updates. "According to the feasibility study of the DOL corridor, we shall primarily focus on the Danube-Oder branch which appears to bring most economic benefits. What we expect from navigation on Oder is environmentally friendly and competitive transport. Industry and logistics in the five-million Silesian agglomeration will have better access to European and world markets. Recreation and tourism are two more functions of the channel," says the transport minister Karel Havlíček. The investor will pay most attention to section Ostrava-Svinov – state border CZ/PL and continuation to the Polish Koźle. The national priority in transportation and restructuring of the Moravian-Silesian region was taken into account. The government also approved the time schedule, according to which navigation to Ostrava should start until 2031. The government also assigned the preparation of SEA inputs for the Danube-Oder-Labe project. To ensure that the entire project can be objectively evaluated from all perspectives, the Labe branch corridor will be further followed and the so-called land provision for this branch will not be cancelled. The route recommended in the feasibility study should have much less impact on the local zone planning of the municipalities affected. The government requires that the transport minister starts negotiations on the EU level about adding the project to the TEN-T network in the Danube-Odra variant at the first occasion i. The cross-border reach of the project Collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international negotiations with Slovakia will also continue, because Slovakia and Poland are members of the international work group. Besides Poland and Slovakia, also Hungary and even the Balkan countries lying on Danube, i.e. Croatia and Serbia, showed interest in the development of Central European waterways. The Danube-Oder-Labe corridor is also subject of negotiation in the so-called "Three Seas" strategic initiative, constituted by 12 member states lying between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas.