Serbia has picked a consortium led by German company DSD Noell for the reconstruction of the ship locks of Djerdap 1 hydropower plant (HPP), the country’s infrastructure ministry said on Wednesday. DSD Noell, in a consortium with Serbian companies Feromont and Elektromontaza, will carry out the reconstruction works, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement. The Serbian government plans to invest 27 million euro ($30.6 million) in the reconstruction of the locks of Djerdap 1, the ministry said. Last month, infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said the Serbian government plans to invest a total of 55.5 million euro in the reconstruction of the locks of Djerdap 1 and Djerdap 2 HPPs, according to Seenews.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) said in November it agreed to provide a 100 million euro loan to Serbia to improve navigation on the inland waterways along the Danube and Sava rivers. The reconstruction works of Djerdap 1 locks will start in September 2019 and will take about a year to complete, the director of the HPP, Dragan Maksimovic, said last month. The Djerdap hydropower complex, located in the Iron Gate gorge on the Danube river, was built jointly by Serbia and Romania and commissioned in the 1970s. The Serbian part of the complex comprises Djerdap 1 and Djerdap 2 HPPs with an installed capacity of 1,058 MW and 270 MW, respectively. DSD Noell specializes on hydromechanical steel equipment for navigational shipping, barrages and hydro power plants.