"A tender for the construction of five new dams has been called and we expect the works, due to start in August, to be completed by the end of the year. In this manner, the protection of the population of this area against flooding will be further improved," said Benedict during his visit to the dam on the Izbička River in Novi Pazar on 1 June 2016.
The European Union and the Swiss Government have been investing into the protection of the river Raška basin for half a decade now, in order to protect the local population and their assets against floods. During the PRO Programme in 2010, a general design with a prefeasibility study was prepared, worth over EUR 110,000. The first works started in 2013, when donors allocated nearly half a million euros, through the development programme EU PROGRES, for the preparation of the technical documentation, on the basis of which eight anti-erosion barriers were built on five tributaries of the Raška river, and 120 ha of land was afforested.
"The City developed the technical documentation in a timely manner, which is a prerequisite for the development of infrastructure projects, and so everything was ready for implementation when the funding for infrastructure became available. As a long-term result of the timely project preparation, the municipality remained protected from floods in the most critical moments," underlined Jasmina Ilić, UNOPS Infrastructure Advisor.
Before the works on the protection of the Raška river basin, the riverbeds of its tributaries were often overflowed and inflicted great damage to the city of Novi Pazar and Raška Municipality. During spring and autumn, due to heavy rainfall, the water was inevitably flooding basements and courtyards of the houses, as well as agricultural land. Material damage caused by the floods in 2013 alone amounted to more than one million Euros, while in 2011, it exceeded two million Euros, and put 3,000 people in a serious danger.
By setting up anti-erosion protection of the Raška river basin, the directly affected households have been protected, as well as all the inhabitants of Raška, Tutin, Sjenica and Novi Pazar. The project has fully justified its purpose when in 2014 and 2016 the newly constructed anti-erosion barriers saved the city of Novi Pazar from floods that befell Serbia.
