No Ministry permit for felling of trees in Gorky Park

The Ministry for Environmental Protection has confirmed that the Kharkiv authorities have been misleading the public and that the felling of trees to make way for a road and hotel complex is totally illegal.

In response to an information request (from April 2008!), the Ministry for Environmental Protection replied on 1 June 2010 that the Kharkiv Regional Department for Environmental Protection has been instructed to revoke the Opinion from 26.02.2008 No. 4-23-1010 regarding the agreement of a plan allocating land over 9.9218 hectares of trees to build and later use a hotel complex and apartments, and for a vehicle road in the Dzherzynsky district of Kharkiv.

“The Department for Environmental Protection did not carry out a State environmental impact assessment of the construction plan for the above-mentioned object, and there is also no information suggesting that public hearings over the construction were held.”