The ambassador of Norway visits the area which will be remediated from historical oil contamination

On 15th of October 2021 the ambassador at Embassy of Norway in Latvia, Kristian Ødegaard, visited the Freeport of Ventspils authority to meet the project team of one of the largest, ecology-related projects in recent years and to get acquainted with the newest implementation status of the project. The project regarding the remediation from historical oil contamination is being performed by the Freeport of Ventspils authority and the project’s co-financing sources are provided by the Norwegian financial instrument, thus, giving a significant input in the environmental preservation of the Baltic Sea region.

On July 2021 the Freeport of Ventspils authority started the project’s “Historically Contaminated area with Oil Products in Ventspils - Former WTP “Ūdeka” (cadastre No. 27000290133) Territory and Oil Product Main Pipeline Network (cadastre No. 27000290007) - Remediation” implementation. The co-financing by the Norwegian financial instrument consists of roughly 4,35 million EUR with the total budget of the project consisting of 5,12 million EUR. During the visit the ambassador inspected the contaminated area and team of the Freeport of Ventspils presented him the example of contamination level at one of the wells created for the research.

The area to be remediated - the former waste water treatment plant complex “Ūdeka” at 68 Dzintaru Street and the territory of oil pipeline network at 52c Dzintaru Street - is located in the northern part of Ventspils, only 30 to few hundred meters from the Baltic Sea coast and Northern Pier of Ventspils port. The owner of the area is Ventspils city municipality, but both properties are currently in the possession of Ventspils Freeport Authority. During the 3-year period it is planned to remediate the waste water treatment plant complex “Ūdeka” and oil pipeline network area, thus, interrupting the further spreading of contamination.

Currently the project is dealing with the specification of planned remediation activities. One of the biggest challenges of the project will be the installation of filtering-purifying barrier which will ensure that the contaminated groundwater does not spread beyond this barrier in the direction of Baltic Sea.

The project “Historically Contaminated area with Oil Products in Ventspils - Former WTP “Ūdeka” (cadastre No. 27000290133) Territory and Oil Product Main Pipeline Network (cadastre No. 27000290007) - Remediation” is being implemented by Freeport of Ventspils Authority in cooperation with the Norwegian partner ‑ foundation “International Development Norway AS” as well as Latvian project partner ‑ foundation “Ventspils High Technology Park”. Project budget: 5 117 000 EUR. Norwegian Financial Mechanism programme (Norway Grants) co-financing: 4 349 450 EUR. The implementation period of the project is from July 1, 2021 to April 30, 2024.

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