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 ...

project that is planned to link

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania to the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

via the Argeș River, and ultimately create direct access to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

via the existing

Danube–Black Sea Canal The Danube–Black Sea Canal () 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 is an important part of the waterway li ...

. The total capacity of the waterway will be 24 million tons/year. The minimum depth is of 4.5 metres and the ships will rise 67 metres over their voyage through six locks and 73km.

History

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

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

. In 1927, a study by Alexandru Davidescu was published at the Polytechnic School. 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 government gazette, gazette of Romania, in which all the promulgation, promulgated bills, President of Romania, presidential decrees, Government of Romania, governmental ordinances and other m ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

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 and four hydroelectric plants (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 stan ...

). 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 Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

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

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

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

mayor of Bucharest The mayor of Bucharest (), sometimes known as the general mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast ...

announced that he intends to finish the work. As of 2013, a joint Romanian-EU project planned to complete the canal from 2014 to 2020 using national and Cohesion funds as part of the EU strategy for the Danube Region. In May 2024 the request for issuing the Environmental Agreement was submitted to the Ministry of the Environment.

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