Solymos: Expropriation Might Be Applied in Environmental Burdens' Removal

Solymos: Expropriation Might Be Applied in Environmental Burdens' Removal

Bratislava, January 9 (TASR) – The state might expropriate private plots of land on which environmental burdens are situated and the owners are not willing to give permission for their removal, Environment Minister Laszlo Solymos (Most-Hid) has said in an interview for TASR.

According to Solymos, MPs might address changing the geological law at the first parliamentary session this year, due to start on January 30. The expropriation should apply to those plots of land with environmental burdens that are marked for removal and whose owners do not want to sell or transfer them under standard conditions.

The minister said the legislative change is also a reaction to the situation with the planned removal of a toxic waste disposal in Bratislava’s borough of Vrakuna, where construction proceedings have been hampered by a problem with three plots of land. “These are private individuals and they just stubbornly keep saying ‘no’,” stated Solymos.

Solymos said that there is currently no other possibility but expropriation, as they have failed to come to an agreement with the private entities. “I think there is no greater public interest than the removal of toxic waste disposals. It’s threatening people’s lives, water, everything,” summarised the minister.

Environmental burdens in Slovakia have been situated chiefly on the premises of industrial or agricultural companies, uncontrolled toxic waste disposals and unsecured pesticide warehouses.