SaS Criticises Preparations for Surany Battery Plant, Demands Info from PM (2)

Bratislava, 7 April (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party held a news conference on Tuesday to criticise the preparations for building a battery plant in the town of Surany (Nitra region), calling on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to provide truthful information on the state of the investment or on Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) to say that there will be no investment. MP Karol Galek (SaS) stated that Slovakia will need a battery plant, but the entire planning and implementation process of this project is being mishandled. He pointed out that the investment was originally supposed to be launched in January 2027, but information from the construction site now indicates that it should be as early as this June. "How do they plan to complete the construction and roads in two months, how do they plan to ensure that the technology itself is delivered there so that battery production can start in January?", asked the MP. According to him, Taraba has spoken about a 13-month construction delay and questioned the investment as such. Galek said that according to a memorandum of understanding regarding the battery plant investment, MH Invest is supposed to pay a total of €85 million to the Slovak Electricity Transmission System (SEPS) and electricity utility West Slovak Distribution Company (ZSD) to enable connection to the grid. "In a situation in which we don't even have an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) issued yet, there are 44 unresolved questions and requirements needing a response from the Environment Ministry," said Galek. According to him, the connection to the grid should be financed by the Chinese investor, Gotion. Moreover, this investment is set to be supported from public sources, with the state helping the Chinese investor with €200 million, of which €150 million should be allocated for the investment itself and €50 million for tax relief. According to SaS, it's been confirmed that the project is being accompanied by ambiguities, delays and suspicions that the rules have been circumvented. MP Martina Bajo Holeckova (SaS) pointed out that this is the only major foreign investment announced by this government so far. "The battery plant in Surany was meant to be the flagship project of Fico's government. We warned about a number of ambiguities and risks months ago. Now it turns out that we were right, and this has been confirmed by minister Taraba, who speaks of a 13-month delay and the fact that the investor has failed to hand over key documents," she said. Bajo Holeckova stressed that the situation is even more serious. "The key EIA process has made virtually no progress over the past year, and not a single one of the 44 requirements has been met. On the one hand, we hear that the investor is already assembling the structure; on the other, we still lack the basic permits. This is chaos that raises fundamental questions," said Bajo Holeckova. She also pointed to suspicions of data manipulation. "We have specific data on the chemical substance NMP, which has serious health impacts – it's a substance with reproductive toxicity. Completely different figures are being used at various stages of the permit process. We are asking: where is the truth? How much of this substance will actually be processed, and how much will leak into the air?" added the MP. NOTE: This story has been extended to include the final three paragraphs. ko/df