Polluted Macedonian city to be rid of smelter

01/05/2008

The Veles City Council approved the removal of the largest polluter in Macedonia -- the town's abandoned lead and zinc smelter -- and plans to build residential and business facilities in the area.

By Zoran Nikolovski for Southeast European Times in Skopje -- 01/05/08

The lead and zinc smelter in Veles ceased operations in 2003. [Macedonian government]

Veles, the most polluted city in Macedonia, finally will demolish the long-shuttered lead and zinc smelter located in the centre of town. Earlier this year, the Veles City Council supported the initiative of a dozen environmental associations united in the Green Coalition to dismantle the old factory.

The Macedonian government also backed the move. Veles residents denounced pollution from the factory, which even after its closure, raises levels of lead and cadmium in the air, soil and water. Some studies found cadmium in the tissue of cancer-stricken children.

The Vila Zora Environmental Association's Nenad Kocic called the move a historic moment for Veles residents. He says that under the Aarhus Convention, which Macedonia signed, its citizens have the right to a healthy environment.

Plans for the cleanup include ridding the city of heavy metals and decontaminating soil in the 45-ha area around the smelter. The city council decided to encourage construction of residences and business facilities around the factory.

It stopped operating in 2003, but because workers improperly shut it down and because it lacks an owner to take responsibility, it still pollutes the area. Thirty-year-old toxic waste taints the soil and ground water.

The Macedonian Institute for Health Protection reported in 2003, when the factory still operated, that Veles was absorbing 62,000 tonnes of zinc, 47,300 tonnes of lead and 120,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide annually.

Since nobody is maintaining the facility, it poses additional difficulties. In November 2007, locals faced a threat of leakage into the Vardar River of around 200 tonnes of sulfuric acid kept in an improperly maintained Kiselina plant tank. Had that amount of acid spilled into the river, consequences for regional flora and fauna would have been enormous. There was a similar threat in 2004, posed by the potential spill of 4,500 tonnes of sulfuric acid and 400 tonnes of ammonium from another plant.

A city of 50,000 people, Veles has confronted constant danger as well as a dilemma for many years. Environmentalists point to measurements continually showing pollution exceeding allowable levels by 50-fold, but the factory's closure also drove up unemployment. This time, the government sided with the environmentalists.

Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs Zoran Stavrevski said the government will support Veles residents. "There should be no more experimenting in Veles. The pollution should stop, and methods for cleaning the soil and the region should be found," Stavrevski said.

The Ministry of Transport and Communication is expected to approve the Detailed Urbanisation Plan issued by the Veles municipality and start dismantling the factory in the coming months.