Opening Ceremony of an environmental monitoring project

Local news, 09.12.2014

An environmental protection project implemented by the Middle-Danube Valley Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, Nature Conservation and Water Management has been officially opened by a press conference on 9 December 2014 in the Széchenyi Garden Restaurant in Budapest. The project is financed by the Swiss Contribution with an amount of 5.1 million Swiss francs.

Ms Eszter Pintér, H.E. Mr Jean-François Paroz, Dr. Rácz András and Mr Max Schnellmann

The aim of the project is to modernise the environmental monitoring system within the competence of the Inspectorate. The existing laboratory equipment will be complemented by mobile measurement and analysis devices. The increased and strengthened environmental monitoring capacity will help to reduce environmental contamination, promote sustainable economic development and improve life circumstances for four million inhabitants living in the affected area.

The project has already produced tangible results such as a monitoring van, which could be visited at the conclusion of the opening ceremony. This mobile high tech van is equipped with very sensitive measurement instruments allowing the Inspectorate to identify contaminating emissions already in minimal quantity.

Dr András Rácz, Deputy State Secretary for Environmental Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, Jean-François Paroz, Ambassador of Switzerland to Hungary, Max Schnellmann, Head, Swiss Contribution Office, Eszter Pintér, Director of the Middle-Danube Valley Inspectorate, and Géza Hizsnyik, Head of the Laboratory attended the ceremony and addressed the press conference.