The Danube–Bucharest Canal is a long

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

project that is planned to link

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, Romania to the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

via the

Argeș River Arges or Argeș may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Romania * Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești * Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952 * Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...

, and ultimately create direct access to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

via the existing

Danube–Black Sea Canal The Danube–Black Sea Canal ( ro, Canalul Dunăre–Marea Neagră) is a navigable canal in Romania, which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube river, via two branches, to Constanța and Năvodari on the Black Sea. Administered from Agigea, it ...

. The earliest plans, made by engineer Nicolae Cucu in 1880, sought to link Bucharest to the Danube at

Oltenița Oltenița () is a city in Călărași County, Muntenia, Romania, on the left bank of the river Argeș, where its waters flow into the Danube. Geography The city is located in the southwestern part of the county; it stands across the Danube from ...

. In 1927, a study by Alexandru Davidescu was published at the

Polytechnic School Polytechnic School, often referred to simply as Poly, is a college preparatory private day school located in Pasadena, California with approximately 850 students enrolled in grades Kindergarten through 12. The school is a former member of th ...

. Two years later, the Romanian parliament passed Law no. 2749 on the building of the Argeș–Bucharest–Danube Canal and of a port in Bucharest; the law was published in

Monitorul Oficial ''Monitorul Oficial al României'' is the official gazette of Romania, in which all the promulgated bills, presidential decrees, governmental A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, general ...

in August 1929. However, the world recession of the early 1930s prevented the government from investing large amounts of money in such projects. Various studies were published, but as

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

began, they were ignored. New plans were made in 1982, the main goal being the regularization of the Argeș River, which flooded in 1970. Communist leader

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

also wanted to have a direct link to Northern Europe, as Rhine-Main-Danube Canal was also built then. The building of the canal began in 1986, the project was supposed to have five

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

and four

hydroelectric plants Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

(the only one that is currently working is the one at

Mihăilești Mihăilești is a town located in Giurgiu County, Muntenia, Romania. It administers three villages: Drăgănescu, Novaci and Popești. It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the Romanian rural systematization program. The town stand ...

). The final project was supposed to generate 62 GWh/year. In February 1990, the building of the canal was stopped, although it was 60% completed. Currently, just the dam at

and the micro-hydro plant are functional. In 1997,

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

, who was Minister of Transport at the time, announced that the finalizing of the canal would require about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

400 million and take four years, but the financing was not found at the time. In 2005,

Adriean Videanu Adriean Marian Videanu (; born 1 June 1962) is a businessman and former mayor of Bucharest, Romania. He is also a vice president of the Democratic Liberal Party of Romania, which was led by Emil Boc and the Minister of Economy in the Boc Cabinet ...

, the

mayor of Bucharest The Mayor of Bucharest ( ro, Primarul General al Municipiului București), sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for citywide affairs, such as the water system, the ...

announced that he intends to finish the work. There currently exists a joint Romanian-EU project to complete the canal from 2014 to 2020 using national and Cohesion funds as part of the EU strategy for the Danube Region.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Danube-Bucharest Canal Buildings and structures in Bucharest Canals in Romania CDanube–Bucharest Canal Buildings and structures in Ilfov County Buildings and structures in Giurgiu County Unfinished buildings and structures in Romania Transport in Bucharest