Clean-up operation at former chemical plant could be complete by 2018

The cleaning up of sludge at oil lagoons left by former chemical plant Ostramo in Ostrava – a major ecological burden for the Czech Republic – could be complete by 2018, the head of state enterprise Diamo, Josef Havelka has said. Some 200,000 tonnes of waste was removed in the past but thousands more were unexpectedly uncovered. Five firms will be chosen to take part in a tender to remove an additional 90,000 tonnes of the chemical dredge. The site of the lagoons was visited on Friday by Trade & Industry Minister Jan Mládek; he expressed the hope the tender on who would complete the clean-up operation would go through quickly.