The European Commission has accepted the steps taken by Slovakia when assessing the environmental impacts of the construction of cross-country highway D1 between Turany and Hubová. According to the final report prepared by independent expert Peter Roth, the construction will not have a significant effect on the integrity of the protected area and the whole project can be paid for by structural funds, spokesperson for the Transport Ministry Martin Kóňa told the SITA newswire.
“It is good news for all of Slovakia,” said Transport Minister Ján Počiatek, as quoted by SITA, after the negotiations between Slovakia and EC, which took place on December 6. He added that Slovakia fulfilled the basic requirement for independent and transparent assessment of the environmental impacts of the construction, which was presented to the country in January this year.
Počiatek also said that the EC has appreciated the progress Slovakia has made during the past few months. Yet, there is still much work to do on this section of the highway, whose construction should start in the middle of 2015.
The Transport Ministry and the National Highway Company (NDS) will now specify the proposed measures to protect the environment. They plan to include the public into the evaluation process and also use the comments from people in the report made by Roth, SITA wrote.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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