Hina - Environment Protection Minister Marija Vučković on Tuesday presented a four-stage plan for the remediation of the 7.5-hectare-large Gospić waste site, which is estimated to contain 44,000 tonnes of hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
The implementation of each of the four stages should not take more than 13 months.
During the first stage, the buried waste will be temporarily covered and an estimated 4,500 tonnes of bulk hazardous waste will be remediated. The consortium comprising CE-ZA-R d.o.o., C.I.A.K. d.o.o., SAUBERMACHER-TS d.o.o., KEMIS-TERMOCLEAN d.o.o. and KEMOKOP d.o.o has been selected to implement the first stage and it will incinerate the waste outside Croatia. The work is expected to take 12 months and cost €8.8 million.
The second stage will tackle 650 tonnes of non-hazardous waste. The waste will be incinerated at cement plants in Našice and Koromačno, which have the necessary permits and technical capacity. The work is expected to take 45 days and cost around €390,000.
Neither the first nor the second phase require an environmental impact assessment or waste management permits.
The third stage envisages management of buried hazardous and non-hazardous waste mixed with soil and rock.
This phase concerns around 33,000 tonnes of buried hazardous and non-hazardous waste mixed with soil and rock in unknown proportions, at a depth of approximately 2.9 metres. Preparations for the procurement procedure are under way. The preferred approach is on-site pre-treatment, involving excavation, mechanical separation and characterisation, followed by separate treatment of the different waste fractions.
Pre-treatment would take place entirely within an enclosed system, with monitoring of air quality, groundwater, noise, soil, leakage and water seepage, as well as waste dispersion and emergency incidents. The works are estimated to take 13 months and cost around €40 million. An alternative would be excavation without pre-treatment, with final treatment carried out outside Croatia.
The fourth stage covers around 6,000 tonnes of waste, including approximately 4,500 tonnes of non-hazardous waste stored inside the silo and buildings. This waste could be removed within 12 months of the start of works, at an estimated cost of €6 million.
Temporary covering of the buried waste is currently under way. The works are expected to cost €270,000 and take 30 days.
The remediation plan is being presented under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Planning and State Assets Branko Bačić, who outlined the measures taken to date and announced that covering of the buried waste would begin this week, followed by the removal of the 650 tonnes of non-hazardous waste next week.
The meeting was also attended by Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan, Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Director Luka Balen, Chief State Inspector Tonči Glavinić, Josip Juraj Strossmayer Institute for Water Management Director Mario Šiljeg, Croatian Institute of Public Health Director Krunoslav Capak, representatives of local and public authorities, including Lika-Senj County Prefect Ernest Petry and Gospić Mayor Darko Milinović, as well as activists from civic initiatives and associations from Gospić and the Lika region.
Gospić waste clean-up can realistically be completed in 18 months, says minister
Environment and Green Transition Minister Marija Vučković said on Tuesday, after the presentation of a plan to remediate waste in Gospić, that it was realistic for all four stages of the clean-up to be completed within 18 months, while environmental monitoring would continue for another five years.
She said the first three stages would be completed within 12 months, while the fourth, involving the disposal of 6,000 tonnes of hazardous and non-hazardous waste in buildings and a silo, could only begin six months from now.
"There are open questions that will be resolved through project and technical documentation concerning the building, its structural stability, the method of extraction. This is a specific stage compared with the other three. It could take 12 months, but based on our assessment, it cannot begin within the next six."
Regarding the estimated cost of the work, she said the authorities had based their calculations on market research and experience from previous public procurement procedures.
"We will see what the actual procurement process for the buried waste shows. Our established prices are just under €300,000 for temporary covering, just under €400,000 for the open waste, while procurement for the most hazardous loose waste next to the silo has shown a value of just under €8.8 million excluding VAT," Vučković said.
She added that the estimated cost of remediating almost 33,000 tonnes of waste was €40 million if the waste were pre-treated on site. The other option would be excavation and removal without pre-treatment.
"Both options are legal. The positive and potentially negative aspects of each option need to be clearly assessed. Experts are fairly unanimous in recommending pre-treatment and waste separation because not all of it is hazardous. However, we allow all legal options provided they are acceptable in terms of cost and can speed up the process," Vučković said.
She added that excavation and removal without pre-treatment could extend the time needed to transport and dispose of the waste because it would have to be taken abroad. Each shipment would require cross-border notification procedures, meaning significantly greater demands in terms of transport and overall logistics.
Luka Balen, director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, confirmed that covering of the 33,000 tonnes of buried waste would begin on Wednesday. "But preparatory work has already begun, so the 30-day deadline will be met."
Vučković said the remediation plan had been presented today and that minor additions would be incorporated over the next two days, after which the full plan would be made available to everyone. A draft project brief is expected to be presented by 10 October.
Asked by reporters whether there was a remediation plan or not, Vučković said there was. "We held a meeting with the Scientific Council this morning. We will incorporate minor additions and the plan will be fully and transparently available to everyone in a few days. The remediation plan is complete."
Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Minister Branko Bačić said they had gone through all the council's suggestions once again at the meeting.
"That analysis gives us many new parameters for defining the technical and technological process, so the remediation plan was not handed over today, but only presented. As it will still be adjusted following the Scientific Council's analysis and proposals, it will be sent to all participants in today's meeting next Monday," he said.
He added that tests of food, fruit and vegetables in Lika-Senj County had shown that the food was safe and of good quality.
Gospić Mayor Darko Milinović agreed. "Our Lika potato must remain a brand, and that is our common goal. What occasionally creates a problem, alongside this hazardous waste, in Lika-Senj County and Gospić is misinformation. Because of misinformation, production and sales of Lika Buša cattle have fallen by 60%, and cheese sales by 30%."
He said the clean-up might be somewhat behind schedule, but that he was a cautious optimist that the problem would be resolved.
County Prefect Ernest Petry also expressed confidence in a positive outcome, stressing that all tests had shown that the water in Lika was safe to drink.
"The area around Gospić may have some of the highest-quality and cleanest water," he said, inviting everyone to attend the upcoming "Autumn in Lika" event and support the region's farmers.
News |
Information
.jpeg?width=750&height=500)