The first round of public hearings in Turkey has been successfully completed. During the last two weeks these have taken place in the cities of Ankara, Eskisehir, Bursa, Balikesir, Tekirdag and Kirklareli. Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director, NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH, commented: “Communicating with the communities and consulting with stakeholders is essential when working on a multinational infrastructure project. We are intent on listening carefully to the concerns of the local communities because we are developing and constructing the pipeline together with the stakeholders that are directly affected”.
The meetings followed a similar format with a presentation from the Nabucco team and detailed description of the Nabucco project, each followed by a question and answer session. The questions covered topics such as easement rights, property issues, construction time frame as well as employment possibilities through the construction of the pipeline.
Mr Erdal Tuzunoglu, Managing Director, Nabucco Turkey, stressed: “The completion of the public hearings is an important step towards the realisation of the Nabucco project. The communities are very interested in the project and we feel that their concerns were addressed and discussed. We will keep the communities involved as we move forward with the project. .”
The feedback of the public hearings will be included in an ESIA draft report and will then be submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) for examination as per national legislation compliance.
