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Weekly Lists
October 12, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
bne:
Infrastructure
Polish companies interested in building Baltic Pipe
Resettlement laws mean Turkish hydroelectric dam could leave hundreds homeless
There is a “high interest” from companies in the construction
of Baltic Pipe, a key energy infrastructure project that is set to reduce Poland’s dependence on Russian gas imports, the investor company Gaz-System said on October 10.
Poland plans to make a final investment decision on the construc- tion of Baltic Pipe this year. Construction is currently expected to begin in 2020 and finish in 2022, the year Poland’s long-term gas supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom expires.
Baltic Pipe will link Norwegian gas fields operated by state- controlled oil and gas company PGNiG to Poland via Denmark. The pipeline will have the capacity to pump up to 10bn cubic metres (cm) of gas annually, possibly bringing Poland’s imports from sources other than Russia to 17bn cm a year.
Hundreds of people displaced by a huge dam in southeast Tur-
key fear they could become homeless because resettlement laws prevent them from moving into a new government-built town above the rising Tigris River waters, Reuters reported on October 9 after speaking to local inhabitants.
The Ilisu dam, which Turkey planned to fill this year, will generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity but has been criticised for water shortages it will create downstream in Iraq and for the tens of thousands of people it will displace in Turkey.
For hundreds of residents of the 12,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf and its neighbouring village of Kesmekopru, both of which will be submerged, housing laws may also block them from finding new homes on the nearby mountainside.
Romania’s largest electronics, IT and home appliances retailer Altex said on October 9 it is investing €39mn in the development of a logistics centre near Bucharest.
The new centre will combine the activity currently carried out in four warehouses, thus reducing the company’s operating costs.
The logistics hub will comprise two main storage buildings with a total area of around 90,000 square metres and 46,000 external logistic platforms. The first phase of the project, which will be 80% financed by EximBank, will be completed in the first quarter of next year.
Romanian electronics retailer Altex to develop €39mn logistics centre