Acting Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti and acting Minister of Economy Artane Rizvanolli inaugurated the completion of the major project “Water Security and Canal Protection”, an €18 million investment aimed at restoring the hydraulic capacity of the Ibër-Lepenc Canal, improving water and energy security, and modernizing the monitoring of this critical infrastructure.
The project included the full rehabilitation of 10 kilometers of the canal, covering 37 key sections along its route. It increased water flow capacity at critical points and created conditions to reduce water turbidity by half.
The Ibër-Lepenc Canal stretches approximately 49 kilometers, from Zubin Potok to Pristina, and represents one of Kosovo’s most important infrastructure systems.
The canal supplies untreated water to treatment facilities serving more than 500,000 citizens across nine municipalities, provides essential water resources for power plants and industry, and supports agricultural irrigation in the Kosovo Plain.
Kurti emphasized that protecting the canal is not only a technical issue but a matter of national importance.
“Its protection is not a local or merely technical matter. It is the protection of everyday life in the Republic: electricity in homes, water in taps, production in the economy, and food in the fields,” Kurti said.
He added that the completion of the project marks a shift from reacting to problems toward building long-term capacities that prevent risks and guarantee essential services.
A significant part of the investment was the 400-meter covering of the canal section in Zubin Potok, carried out with around €1.1 million from the funds of the Public Hydro-Economic Enterprise “Ibër-Lepenc”.
The intervention was implemented in cooperation with the local community and aims to improve both canal security and the safety of nearby residents. The newly created surface above the covered section will be available as a public space for the community.
Minister Rizvanolli said the project brings three major improvements: restoring the canal’s capacity, improving water quality, and introducing modern monitoring and management systems.
The rehabilitation included reinforced concrete lining of damaged sections, repairs of structural failures and active leaks, as well as increasing flow capacity by 1.3 cubic meters per second in critical areas.
A new SCADA system and telemetry technology will allow water flow, levels, and quality to be monitored automatically 24 hours a day, enabling faster detection of problems and quicker intervention.
Following the ceremony in Zubin Potok, Kurti and Rizvanolli also visited the regulation station and balancing reservoir in Mihaliq, Vushtrri. The reservoir has a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters and is one of the key elements of the project.
Worth around €2.1 million, the reservoir provides emergency water supply options for KEK power plants and the Shkabaj water facility, while also allowing maintenance and urgent repairs on the canal without interrupting services for consumers.
The project was financed through €15 million in loans from the World Bank and €3 million from the own funds of the Ibër-Lepenc enterprise.
The completed measures are expected to make the system more resilient against damage, failures, and emergency situations, reducing potential impacts on citizens, energy production, and Kosovo’s economy.
