The Giurgiu local municipal council voted on Thursday a draft decision setting the minimum distances to urban agglomerations for the location of investments carrying a potential risk of accidental pollution, in anticipation of plans for the construction in the city of a hospital waste incinerator, write Agerpres.

Dimitar Nedev, deputy mayor of the Bulgarian city of Ruse, was also present at the meeting, expressing concern about the construction of the facility. The points of view of the Ruse municipality and civil society were submitted in writing to the Romanian Ministry of Environment, Water and Forestry and were also presented at the meeting of the Giurgiu local municipal council on Thursday.

„The Ruse municipality office received 32 negative opinions from citizens and associations expressing their disagreement with plans to build an incinerator in Giurgiu. (…) Please consider the civil discontent with the above project, so as to keep the health and life of the Ruse residents protected through all the measures provided for by the law and international treaties,” said Dimitar Nedev.

Giurgiu mayor Adrian Anghelescu explained how this project came about and what the municipality’s relevant point of view is. The councilors argued that „everyone is against the location of this incinerator” and some even opined that such a project „should not be allowed in the entire administrative area of the municipality” and that „the Giurgiu MPs should put back on Parliament’s table a bill to somehow clearly set these safety distances”.

President of the Giurgiu-Ruse Euroregion, Lili Gancheva, also present at the meeting, said that this project raises concerns on the Bulgarian side. In the end, the 19 local municipal councilors present at the meeting out of a total of 21 voted for a draft decision that defines „neighborhood” in such situations to be a distance of 1,000 meters from privately-owned land and houses.