The process of cleaning of the lindane and its isomers from the small landfill in the factory backyard of OHIS officially started today. The complex cleaning operation is a joint coordinated activity of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Ministry of Environment, UNOPS and UNIDO.
The selected contractor, the company Polieco, started with preparatory activities for clearing the field, providing and installing the necessary equipment and mechanization around the small landfill within the OHIS factory in Skopje.
"With this project, we confirmed our determination to eliminate the hot spots in the country. In recent times, huge quantities of extremely dangerous chemicals were safely removed and destroyed, which were stored for decades in the OHIS backyard, and today we are attending the start of the cleaning of the lindane, as a historical problem to which we paid a lot of attention and energy," stated, Minister Nuredini, announcing that the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Ministry of Environment are making efforts to provide funds from several sources for cleaning the large landfill.
In the past three years, Norway has provided € 1.5 million in support of the OHIS small landfill clean-up through the Nordic Support to the North Macedonia Progress project, as well as through donations to the Multi-Partnership Environmental Fund.
"I look forward to coming back here when the project is completed and the citizens have a safe environment," declared Stefan Sandstad, First Secretary of the Norwegian Embassy, at an event marking the start of the work on the field.
The process of cleaning the lindane, which is carried out in accordance with international best practices, is expected to be completed by July 2022. A cooperation of two United Nations agencies, UNIDO and UNOPS, has been established for the cleaning of the small landfill.
"This complex clean-up operation is made possible through the strong cooperation and leadership of the Government, the Ministry of Environment, the Norwegian Embassy and through cooperation with another United Nations agency, the UNIDO, which is a specialized agency that supports countries in their efforts to manage the environment. In this partnership, UNOPS runs the Multi-Partnership Environmental Fund which has been established to mobilize national and international resources and needs for cleanup as well as for donor coordination” explained Michela Telatin, Head of the UNOPS Office for North Macedonia.
The estimated value of the complete cleaning and destruction of lindane and its isomers from the small landfill in OHIS amounts to approximately 8 million euros, and is expected to be completed in July 2022.
