A police operation concerning construction work on the D4/R7 motorway bypass was performed in Bratislava on Thursday. According to private TV Markiza, the police were investigating suspicions that contaminated soil is being used during the construction work.
Markiza reported that several people had been detained, including the managers of companies doing business in waste management involving the Spanish consortium.
According to glob.sk website, the police have allegedly detained the 'Waste King' Michal G. and manager of D4R7 Construction Javier H., who could be charged with endangering the public, notes the website, adding that the subsoil beneath the D4/R7 bypass does not meet safety criteria. "A full halt to the construction work is in the frame. New holes will have to be dug and new soil will have to be brought in for new subsoil on dangerous sections," stated glob.sk. The concessionaire of the Bratislava bypass project, Zero Bypass Limited, and the main construction contractor, D4R7 Construction, rule out any land contamination or the use of materials that might pose an environmental danger in any way, shape or form, the TASR press agency learnt on Thursday.
The companies responded this way to an extensive police crackdown earlier in the day in the Bratislava region, in the wake of suspicions that contaminated soil or construction waste had been used for the construction of the D4 highway and R7 expressway. Both firms claim that they are fully co-operating with the police. "The concessionaire and project contractor are employing only materials acquired from sub-suppliers, which meet the relevant norms and certificates," reads their press statement.
