TAP begins its Land Easement and Acquisition (LEA) activities for the 870 km
long Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in Albania, Greece and Italy.
TAP has authorized its contractors to start surveys for collecting detailed
information on the landowners living along the pipeline corridor to complement
the existing cadastral data. The goal is to identify rightful land owners,
establish property boundaries and evaluate the affected properties.
TAP’sLEA process is based on acquiring access rights to land, in order to
establish access for the pipeline.
TAP will require temporary access to land for the construction strip where
the pipeline will be buried and permanent access to land for installations such
as compressor stations, block valve stations, etc. Following construction, TAP
will alsorequireland easements for the pipeline corridor and safety
zones.
TAPis carrying out its activities in accordance withthe
international standards of theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) to ensure that all affected people living along the pipeline
corridor are compensated fairly and transparently.
TAP has hired Royal HaskoningDHV (RHDHV) as its contractor for LEA activities.
RHDHVis an international engineering and project management service
provider and consultancy, based in the Netherlands.
In 2014 TAP plans to enter into agreements with landowners regulating how
the access to land can be granted. Royal HaskoningDHV will be contacting all
affected landowners in the next months; it will mobilise a team of 200 staff
memberst o carryout LEA activities in Greece, Albania and Italy.
Albert Haak, TAP’s Land Easement and Acquisition Manager, said: “TAP’s LEA
activities will be conducted in a very transparent manner and in accordance to
the highest international standards. TAP is committed to an open dialogue
and building trustful and lasting relationships with the communities living
along the future pipeline route.”
Sjacco de Vos, Senior Project Manager for Royal HaskoningDHV, said: “Our
goal is to ensure that access to land is secured and TAP can begin the pipeline
construction on schedule, and also to ensure that people affected by the
project are properly compensated according to the EBRD standards.”
TAP has also established an impartial “Grievance Mechanism” - an efficient
and quick process to receive complaints/expressions of concern from people
living near the proposed pipeline, and TAP commits to responding to these and
providing relevant solutions. More about it at www.tap-ag.com/grievance