ACTING Environment Minister Dušan Čaplovič dismissed the director general of the state-run company Vodohospodárska Výstavba Bratislava (VVB), Roman Straka, on September 11, because of his inactivity regarding the company Xiland, the SITA newswire reported.
Straka refused to cancel a contract between the company and the firm Xiland for rental of 300 hectares of land along the Danube River in the area of the Gabčíkovo hydro-power project for 99 years for €0.016 per square metre annually.
Čaplovič appointed Vladimír Kocian to manage the company temporarily until a replacement has been recruited.
“The rental contract signed on September 16, 2008, was in violation of generally binding legal regulations of the Slovak Republic and endangered the economic results of the Environment Ministry,” said Michal Kaliňák, spokesman for Čaplovič.
After he became acting environment minister on September 3 Čaplovič ordered the unilateral and immediate withdrawal from the contract with Xiland for renting land near Jarovce Lake because the company was not willing to agree on the termination of the contract. Straka ignored his instruction.
