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Simon: Gov't One Step Closer to Leading Oil Pipeline Across Zitny Ostrov
Monday 25 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, January 25 (TASR) - According to independent MP Zsolt Simon, vice-chairman of non-parliamentary Most-Hid party, the Government is now one step closer to finalising the plan to build a crude oil pipeline across the Zitny Ostrov area that features the water reservoirs for south-western Slovakia.
According to Simon, some progress has been made in the legislative process recently, as two legislative proposals on this matter have been passed to first reading in Parliament - the development of which he warns is negative.
Both pieces of legislation – one on nature protection, and the other on environmental impact assessment – if approved by Parliament will come into effect as of May 1. Simon added that another bill (on water resources) related to the pipeline case is in the first reading and is believed to be scheduled to take effect on June 1.
Simon says that there is a possibility that coalition MPs might still amend the bill on water resources without any obstacles on the way. "Therefore, the pipeline might be ready to use in October or November," he added.
What has been standing in the way of building the pipeline across Zitny Ostrov until now is the actual wording of the three aforementioned laws, plus the one on power engineering. "The law on power engineering was amended in 2009, and came into effect as of September," Simon noted. He also said it's not true that the pipeline project is 24 percent in Slovakia and 76 percent in Austria. "The pipeline section on the Slovak side is exclusively in the hands of Transpetrol, while 76 percent of a 50-kilometre section on the Austrian side is also owned by Transpetrol and 24 percent belongs to OMV," said Simon.
In response to Simon's comments, a spokesman for the Economy Ministry said they cannot comment on "speculations and statements made by politicians, whatever their motives may be".
"The need to diversify both resources and transport corridors is the official policy of the European Union and the European Commission. The Economy Ministry won't do anything that would be viewed as being set against Slovak citizens and the environment they live in," ministry spokesman Branislav Zvara told TASR.
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