The project has the following beneficiaries:

            1. Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie from Austria;

            2. Administration of the Navigable Canals (ACN) - established in Romania

            3. Executive Agency "Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River" (IAPPD) - established in Bulgaria

            4. Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure (HR) - established in Croatia

            5. Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic (SK) - established in Slovakia

            6. River Administration of the Lower Danube Galati (AFDJ) - established in Romania

            7. Ministry of National Development (HU) - established in Hungary

and the following implementing bodies:

• via donau - Österreichische Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH, designated by AT;
• Agencija za vodne putove, designated by HR;
• Agentura rozvoja vodnej dopravy, designated by SK;
• General Directorate of Water Management, designated by HU;
• Nemzeti Infrastruktura Fejleszto Zrt, designated by HU.

The total project budget is 23,357,255 euros, of which the budget for AFDJ is 8,562,778.15 euro

Duration: The project will run for a period of 5 years, ie during the period 01.07.2015-30.06.2020  .

            Scope and Objectives of the project

            Economically viable transport services on the Danube are dependent on stable fairway conditions. Several bottlenecks hinder the navigation along the Danube section of the Rhine-Danube core network corridor. The waterway infrastructure parameters defined by ECMT (2.5 m of draught, 5.25 m minimum height under bridges 365 days per year) are not reached in several sections of the Danube, the Sava and the Danube-Black Sea Canal.

            The main goal of the Global Project is to implement the "Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan of the Danube and its navigable tributaries" endorsed by all but one relevant Ministers in December 2014. The aim of the Master Plan is to reach and ensure good navigation conditions throughout the year by providing a minimum level of service.

            Project actions are carried out in order to:

• Elaborate coordinated national action plans for the deployment of the "Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan".
• Procure the necessary equipment to carry out pilot activities for hydrological services in the five concerned countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia);
• Allow the identification of innovative approaches for fairway rehabilitation and upgrade.
• Prepare documentation for implementation of future selected measures that further support the deployment of the "Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan".

The Project Activities:

Each Activity will be coordinated by a beneficiary as listed below:

• Activity 1 – Project Management and Communication - Via donau-Österreichische Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH (Via donau);
• Activity 2 - National action plans and definition of pilots – Via donau-Österreichische Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH (Via donau);
• Activity 3 - Procurement of hydrological services – Izpalnitelna agentsia "Prouchvane i poddarzhane na reka Dunav" (IAPPD) ;
• Activity 4 - Pilot activities implementation – by Administratia Fluviala A Dunarii De Jos Galati (AFDJ);
• Activity 5 - Innovative approaches – by Administratia Fluviala A Dunarii De Jos Galati (AFDJ);
• Activity 6 - Preparation of documentation for future projects - Waterborne Transport Development Agency (ARVD);

            The project Activities are the follow:

Activity 1: Project Management and communication

            Sub-Activity 1.1 Project Management

            Sub-activity 1.2 Communication and dissemination

Activity 2: National action plans and definition of pilots

            Sub-Activity 2.1 Update of the national action plans

            By signing the "Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan of the Danube and its navigable tributaries", the Danube riparian countries agreed on establishing national action plans which include an overview of the status of all waterway sections and the estimation of the required investments per country necessary to achieve and ensure a common Level of Service as defined in the Fairway Masterplan.

            The objective of this sub-activity is to update the national action plans on a yearly basis. The last update is foreseen by 30/09/2019.

            Sub-Activity 2.2 Pilot definitions

            The scope of this Sub-Activity is twofold:

            - Definition of pilot works actions to contribute reaching a good navigation status along the critical sections of the Danube.

            - Development of a joint framework for the evaluation of the pilot works implemented.

Activity 3: Procurement of equipment for hydrological services

            This Activity covers the procurement of equipment for hydrological services in order to carry out the pilot activities identified in Activity 2.

           Sub-Activity 3.1 State of the art analysis

            The objective of this Sub-Activity is to carry out an analysis of the state of the art of hydrological service equipment in order to confirm the market availability of the technical specifications selected for the equipment parameters.

            Sub-Activity 3.2 Procurement of monitoring equipment to implement pilot activities

            This sub-activity entails the following tasks:

Preparation of technical specifications, elaboration of the public procurement documentation and execution of procurement procedures for:

• The manufacturing of surveying vessels and their equipment for Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
• Upgrade of an existing surveying vessel with a portable single-beam echo-sounder for Romanian Danube/Black Sea Canal.
• New automatic water level-gauges:

• Four in Croatia;
• Ten in Bulgaria;
• Ten in Romania;

• Rehabilitation of existing water level-gauges:

• Eight in Romania;
• Five in Croatia.

• Three sediments samplers to perform the necessary measurements in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

            Sub-Activity 3.3 Procurement of waterway management systems

            This sub-activity entails the following tasks:

            Preparation of technical specifications, elaboration of the public procurement documentation and execution of procurement procedures for the design of one trans-national and five national waterway management systems to process and analyse the information collected by the existing equipment in the beneficiary countries and the equipment purchased in Sub-Activity 3.2 (surveying vessels and water level gauges).

            Sub-Activity 3.4 Establishment of harmonized water level forecast

            The objective of this Sub-Activity is to establish a harmonised water level forecast system for selected reference gauges in Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. This forecast will be available for three to five days with a high accuracy of two days.

            Sub-Activity 3.5 Procurement of marking vessels

            This sub-activity entails the following tasks:

• Preparation of technical specifications, elaboration of the public procurement documentation and execution of procurement procedures for the design and manufacturing of marking vessels and their equipment for Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
• Upgrade of three existing marking vessels for Hungary in order to carry out the necessary measurements.

Activity 4: Pilot activities implementation

            The objective of this Activity is to carry out pilot works activities to test the effectiveness of the measures identified in the national actions plans delivered under Activity 2.

            Sub-Activity 4.1 Pilot operation: monitoring equipment

            This sub-activity covers the analysis of the data collected by the surveying vessel and the water level-gauges procured and installed in Activity 3. These measurements will be carried out at critical locations on the Danube and the Danube-Black Sea Canal.

            Sub-Activity 4.2 Pilot operation: waterway management system

            This sub-activity covers the implementation and calibration of the five national and one trans-national waterway management system procured in Activity 3.

            Sub-Activity 4.3 Pilot operation: water level forecast

            This sub-activity covers the implementation and calibration of the harmonised water forecasts for the selected reference gauges procured and installed in Activity 3.

            Sub-Activity 4.4 Pilot operation: fairway marking

            This sub-activity covers the deployment of buoys by means of marking vessels procured in Activity 3. Marking activities will concentrate on critical locations on the Danube.

            Sub-Activity 4.5 Pilot evaluation

            This sub-activity covers the evaluation of the pilots' results to determine the effectiveness of the measures identified by using the joint framework for evaluation developed in Activity 2.

Activity 5: Innovative approaches

            This Activity covers the implementation of innovative approaches to improve the accuracy of measurements and analysis of the critical sections of the Danube.

            Sub-Activity 5.1 Aerial photo monitoring

            This sub-activity covers the procurement, data collection and evaluation of airborne monitoring technology for the Hungarian waterway section. This technology (monitoring drone) aims to improve the quality of information about navigation conditions. The know-how acquired will be shared among the Action beneficiaries.

            Sub-Activity 5.2 Optimum navigation speed

            This sub-activity covers the delivery of a feasibility study to determine the "optimum navigation speed" on the Danube Black Sea Canal for different types of vessels/convoys.

            Sub-Activity 5.3 Low navigable water level calculation for the lower Danube section (km 172 – km 862)

            This sub-activity covers the development and implementation of a methodology to calculate the level of low navigable water on the Lower Danube.

            Sub-Activity 5.4 Develop the Inland AIS (Automatic Identification System) supported application concept for Aids to Navigation (AtoNs)

            The objective of this sub-Activity is to determine how RIS supported AToNs can be used along the Danube. These concepts will have to be discussed at the relevant RIS experts groups and tested under operational conditions in Austria and Hungary.

Activity 6: Preparation of documentation for implementation of future selected measures supporting the deployment of the "Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan"

            The objective of this Activity is to identify future works Actions to address the remaining issues that hamper the navigability of the Danube and its navigable tributaries.

            Sub-Activity 6.1 Feasibility study to upgrade the Lower Váh (km 0.00 to km 113.4)

            Currently the state of the Lower Váh in Slovakia does not provide for safe, secure and viable navigation. The objective of this sub-activity is to assess and evaluate the existing fairway conditions and deliver a feasibility study to address the removal of bottlenecks.

            Sub-Activity 6.2 Pre-Feasibility study to upgrade the Gabčíkovo lock

            The objective of this sub-activity is to assess and evaluate the status of the Gabčíkovo lock in Slovakia. A pre-feasibility study will be delivered to investigate possible works options to ensure good navigation status. The pre-feasibility study will include a Cost-Benefit Analysis elaborated for the selected scenario.