Olive grove destruction bill needed for nuclear plant construction: Energy Ministry

The Energy Ministry says a controversial draft law that will lead to the destruction of olive groves “is necessary” for the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear plant planned in the southern coast amid a mounting campaign against the plans.

A draft bill recently submitted to Parliament foresees permitting private investors to build energy facilities, including plants that run on fossil fuels, military defense facilities and any form of construction in centuries-old olive groves.

According to a report on news website Bianet, a high-ranking official from the Energy Ministry defended the draft during the debate of the bill in the Agriculture and Forestry Commission at Parliament and said the bill change should be adapted to secure the construction of the nuclear plant in the Akkuyu district of the southern province of Mersin.

 â€œIf this law remains as it is, there will be a serious danger of not receiving the construction license, which means the construction of a $20-billion nuclear plant will be risked because of those groves,” deputy undersecretary Ä°lker Sert reportedly said during the Commission session.

Noting the construction is aimed to begin in 2016, he said there are several olive groves three kilometers around the area where the nuclear plant will be built and these scattered groves are owned by private people, which requires a law for the expropriation of those lands.

Turkey’s first planned 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, being built by Russia’s Rosatom and is aimed to beef up the country’s energy output, is already falling behind schedule, with the first reactor unlikely to be operational by 2019 as planned.

The project has already been the target of harsh public...