TAP to discuss environmental impact with local communities

TIRANA, Nov. 21 – After several years of route selection and refinement in Albania, TAP pipeline project has completed its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and is preparing to submit the document to the Albanian authorities, the consortium said in a statement. The ESIA process has been carried out and the report drafted by a group of Albanian and international experts in accordance with the Albanian law and in compliance with the Environmental and Social Policy of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The objective of the ESIA is to assess the potential impacts of the project on the environment, cultural heritage and socio-economic resources and to design measures to avoid, reduce or mitigate negative impacts.
In this framework, TAP is now disclosing the ESIA document to all affected communities along the pipeline route to make sure that views of local stakeholders on impacts and mitigation measures can be incorporated in the pipeline project development.
The TAP team will organise 22 ESIA disclosure meetings in Albania in the coming weeks. The meetings with local communities will start on the 19th November in the eastern Albania (Kor衠District) and they will finish on the 7th of December in western Albania (Fier District). A public announcement with the details of date and location of the meetings is published by the local media. On December 8th, TAP will also organise a meeting with NGOs in Tirana.
TAP started its official ESIA submission process in Albania in April 2011 by submitting the ESIA Scoping Report to the Albanian authorities. TAP is preparing to submit its full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report at the beginning of 2013.