Italy's Maccaferri Group will soon begin work on 10 small hydropower facilities along the Ibar River in southern Serbia, HydroWorld.com has learned.

Construction of the hydroelectric plants, which will have a combined cost of about US$455 million, is the first stage in a strategic project designed to develop plants along the Serbia/Bosnia-Herzegovina border, says Serbian prime minister Ivica Dacic.

Serbia's government says the project is a partnership of Italy's Seci Energia, Serbia's Elektroprivreda Srbije and the Republika Srpska.

HydroWorld.com reported in September that utility Elektroprivreda Srbije had signed a memorandum of understanding that will create about 920 MW of hydroelectric capacity along the Drina and Danube rivers.

Meanwhile, feasibility studies for the country's Brodarevo 1 and 2 hydropower plants were finished in June.