End of mega project

Now fixed: no gravel conveyor belt across the Danube

Mining material should have been transported across the Danube on a conveyor belt between Persenbeug and Krummnußbaum (symbolic image).

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut (Symbolbild))

According to the plans of two entrepreneurs, the gravel conveyor belt from the Loja hard stone plant would have spanned around 1.2 kilometers across the Danube. Why this major project is now not to be realized after all.  

For months, a true mega-project kept the inhabitants of the Nibelungengau in the district of Melk on tenterhooks. The hard stone company Loja, together with the construction materials giant Bernegger, planned to build a gravel conveyor belt over a kilometer long from the banks of the Danube near Persenbeug across the river to Krummnußbaum - as reported by the "Krone".

This is what the conveyor belt across the Danube could have looked like (symbolic image).

(Bild: EGLV/Rupert Oberhauser)

Resistance made more difficult
As part of the river crossing, a multi-track shunting station including meter-high concrete silos would have been built on the Krummnußbaum side. What made protests against the project more difficult: if implemented, it would be handled under the jurisdiction of mining law.

Protests about dust and noise
Soon after the possible realization of the project became known, resistance arose in the region. According to activists from the citizens' initiative Pro Nibelungengau, led by former state councillor and state secretary Christa Kranzl, Loja's rock quarry has been expanding for years: "Dust and noise from the blasting repeatedly cause trouble on both sides of the Danube."

Final negotiations: Strasser, Pernkopf, Habsburg and Bernegger (from left).

(Bild: zVg)

Decision at the negotiating table
Ultimately, however, a certain skepticism towards the conveyor belt project is also likely to have prevailed at state level. After a final meeting between Stephan Pernkopf, Vice-President of the Province, and Georg Strasser, National Councillor, with Loja owner Alexander Habsburg and Kurt Bernegger, the good news for local residents was: "It is now clear that the Danube conveyor belt will not be built!"

The Danube crossing was planned here.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/OpenStreetMaps)

Lengthy procedures 
Habsburg specified: "We are withdrawing the project." Too many unresolved issues, opposition in the region and efforts by Mayor Bernhard Kerndler against the project had led to "a difficult and lengthy approval procedure". The two entrepreneurs obviously did not want to risk it. Habsburg concludes: "As an employer and business enterprise, we want to be a good partner for the entire region. We have been doing this for generations. That's how we want it to be in the future too."

This commitment has taken a lot of effort, but the withdrawal of the project is the greatest success for me.

Bernhard Kerndler, Bürgermeister von Krummnußbaum

Great relief
Pernkopf thanked the entrepreneurs for putting the well-being of the region first. And local leader Kerndler spoke of a "day of relief" after the decision against the conveyor belt.