Ministry Announces Call to Clear Up Environmental Damage Worth Almost €187 mn

Bratislava, October 23 (TASR) - The Environment Ministry on Monday announced a call to eliminate environmental damage totalling almost €187 million, TASR has learnt from Environment Ministry spokesman Tomas Ferencak. The call is financed from the EU Cohesion Fund and the national budget. The goal of the clear-up work is to eliminate, limit or reduce contamination and the related risk to human health and the environment. "The third call announced by the Environment Ministry from the Programme Slovakia is focused on improving localities that were contaminated in the past primarily by industrial, military, mining, transport or agricultural activities," said Ferencak. The obligation to clear up the damage has been transferred by law to the state, and the project will be implemented across the whole of Slovakia, he added. The complete wording of the call is available on the websites www.itms2014.sk and www.eurofondy.gov.sk. The ministry's priority is to continue to clear up the most high-risk locations, such as the toxic landfill in Bratislava's borough of Vrakuna, the old waste dump in Stara Lubovna and Giraltovce (both Presov region), and the pesticide warehouse in Nova Dedina (Nitra region). The total cost of eliminating the environmental damage is estimated at €1.1 billion. ko/df