RIGA, Nov 12 (LETA) - On Tuesday, Swiss and Latvian officials signed an agreement on the program "Remediation of Historical Pollution", providing for Swiss contribution worth more than EUR 12 million to remediate the historically polluted site in Aizkraukle, LETA learned from the Climate and Energy Ministry.

The agreement was signed by Laurence Mortier, Head of Swiss Contribution to EU Member States at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and Armands Eberhards, Deputy State Secretary for European Union (EU) Funds at the Ministry of Finance.

With this important event, we officially start the implementation of the program to start the improvement works of the territory in Aizkraukle. This is one of the four program agreements signed under the Swiss-Latvia Cooperation Program.

Historical pollution in Aizkraukle, 10 Dzelzcela Street, originates from the site of a reinforced concrete factory built in the mid-20th century for the construction of the Plavinas hydro power plant (HPP). The area is approximately 10.6 ha and the detailed investigation of the site revealed contamination with petroleum products. This area exceeds the soil and ground quality thresholds set in national regulations.

"Thanks to the Swiss - Latvian cooperation program, future emissions from the pollution source in the soil and groundwater will be significantly reduced and limited. After the completion of the planned works, a post-remediation monitoring system will be established, with the aim of monitoring the compliance of the environmental processes taking place in the territory with environmental quality requirements" said Andris Kenins, Director General of the State Environmental Service.

The "Remediation of Historical Pollution" program will be implemented with a budget of 14.35 million Swiss francs or EUR 15.07 million (EUR 12.81 million from Switzerland and EUR 2.26 million from the Latvian state budget) and will remediate a historically contaminated site of national importance in Aizkraukle, removing the source of contamination and preventing the further spread of contamination into groundwater and the Daugava River.

Latvia will receive a total of EUR 42.4 million in Swiss funding, which will support four programs - "Partnership in applied research: innovative materials, information and communication technologies and smart energy", "Stronger work-based learning to improve vocational education and training in Latvia", "Advancement of pediatric cancer care in Latvia" and "Remediation of historical pollution". The programs will run in Latvia until December 3, 2029.