Thanks to its rapid and professional measures, Hungary has achieved unique results in remediation following the Red Mud Disaster, the Ministry of Rural Development's Minister of State for Environmental Affairs said at a press conference today.

Zoltán Illés said that in no country has the state ever compensated its people after an industrial disaster of this nature as it has in Hungary, adding that the Government has handled the situation and given those affected the opportunity to start a new life.

He reminded the press that remediation began almost immediately parallel to saving human lives. He stressed that the alkaline pollution had successfully been stopped from reaching the river Rába within 3-4 days. By the time it had reached the Danube it's level of alkalinity had fallen from pH 13.4 to pH 7.8, and so no damage was caused to wildlife in the river. In summary, the Minister of State said that the red sludge and 1.091 million cubic metres of polluted soil had to be removed from a total of 267 hectares. The state spent 38.275 billion forints (over 127 million euros) on averting damage, remediation and reconstruction.

Mr. Illés also spoke about the fact that the issue of the settlement of Abasár's drinking water has also been successfully solved. Following one and a half months of extremely hard work, the citizens of Abasár once again have access to clean running water. The Government provided 170 million forints to handle the problem and a further 100 million to provide a permanent solution to Abasár's water supply.

At the press conference, the Minister of State for Environmental Affairs also reported on the fact that the Ministry of Interior will take over supervision of the country's water authorities, which will put an end to problems arising from the fact that some water-related issues are decided on by the Ministry of Rural Development, while others fall under the scope of authority of the Ministry of Interior. Professional criteria require that water management and water supply be controlled by a single Ministry, which according to the Government's decision is to be the Ministry of Interior, Mr. Illés said.

Also in view of professional criteria, the Cabinet has also decided that the interests, criteria, professional weight and influence of environmental and conservation issues must not decrease, he said, adding that tt is important that cooperation on such issues between the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Interior remain close. Mr. Illés also indicated that the field of water catchment area management would remain with the Ministry of Rural Development, as it is closely associated with environmental protection and conservation.

Minister of State Illés said that the transfer of the field of water management to the Ministry of Interior was mainly justified by the fact that the Interior Ministry had already been performing tasks related to flood protection and damage remediation, for which it has employed a significant number of people within the Government' Public Employment Scheme.

(MTI, Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)