Latviski
Yesterday, on 26 September Ansis Zeltiņš, CEO of the Freeport of Riga Authority, met with Kaspars Gerhards, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development to discuss environmental issues in the port. During their meeting officials agreed on the necessity to strengthen communication with residents, as well as to cooperate with environmental authorities in a faster and closer manner.
“It is highly important that residents quickly receive both information about current events and advisory support: how to act if bad smell can be felt in the environment! Likewise, I propose paying more attention to communication with inhabitants with regard to activities taking place in the port. People’s concerns are justified since information about cargo handled in the port of Riga and whether these processes are sufficiently controlled rarely appears in the public space”, emphasised Gerhards.
During the meeting the minister also noted that the Riga City Council, in caring for the welfare of its inhabitants, has the possibility of applying stricter requirements to activities within the territory of the port of Riga.
In order to provide residents with the latest information in the event complaints regarding air quality are received, the Freeport of Riga Authority will further publish topical information about the environmental situation within the territory of the port on its website www.rop.lv. Likewise, it is planned to organise meetings with residents of territories adjacent to the port in order to familiarise them with environmental protection control and monitoring mechanisms and discuss how to act and where to apply in the event there are suspicions regarding air pollution.
As has already been reported, in order to promote more effective supervision and control of processes, responsible authorities have certified their readiness to cooperate more closely n the future, involving port companies in a fast exchange of information. While performing handling operations, bad odours are not always established by means of measuring devices available to companies at the terminal itself, wherewith the quicker the company receives information about complaints, the faster it is possible to find and eliminate their causes.
“The duty of every company operating in the port is to observe all the set environmental quality requirements and regulations in its activities. In the future we will monitor the operation of every terminal even more strictly and in the event of violations, the guilty persons will be held liable”, informs Ansis Zeltiņš, CEO of the Freeport of Riga Authority.
In accordance with laws and regulations, Category B permits are issued to port companies by the State Environmental Service, which also monitors the conditions of the permit.
Regular air pollution monitoring is also carried out by the Port Police in 24/7 mode within the entire territory of the port. If there are any suspicions about cases of environmental pollution, residents are urged to contact the Port Police by phone at +371 67090777.
