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The public hearing was led by a representative of the Department of State Administration of Waters and Selected Environmental Components of the Nitra District Office, which is also responsible for the development of the PZKO in cooperation with the relevant permitting authorities, the Slovak Environmental Inspection, the self-governing region, affected municipalities, operators, the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ) and other affected authorities and organizations. The public had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the content of the program from February 18, 2025 and send any comments within 21 days.

The legal and content framework of the document, including its objectives, as well as the time milestones of its creation, was presented at the hearing. The individual proposed measures to improve air quality, including the evaluation of their effectiveness, were presented in more detail, which affect a total of 46 municipalities falling into the 2nd or 3rd risk level determined by the method of integrated assessment of municipalities with respect to the risk of adverse air quality. Only 4 municipalities participated in the discussion, which may indicate a low awareness or interest of local governments in air quality issues and the unavailability of tools to reduce emissions from local heating. In addition to them, representatives of district offices in the Nitra Region participated in the discussion.

A similar document for the Nitra Region zone was last prepared in 2014, when in the evaluated period there were still exceedances of the established air quality standards at monitoring stations in Nitra, mainly originating from transport, local heating plants and regional background. The currently proposed program responds to the exceeding of the limit values of concentrations for dust particles PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and the target value of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) at the station in the municipality of Plášťovce and the expected deterioration of air quality in another 60 municipalities determined based on the methodology of mathematical modeling.

The report on the evaluation of the strategic document, which is part of the SEA process, was prepared by the company ENVICONSULT spol. s r. o.. During the discussion, the company representative presented the report, which contains the identified positive and negative impacts of the implementation of the strategic document, as well as a proposal for measures to prevent, eliminate, minimize and compensate for environmental impacts. The SEA process is not yet completely completed with this step, it is necessary to prepare an expert opinion and a final opinion.

The report and assessment, as well as the program itself and other information about the SEA process are available on the Enviroportal: https://www.enviroportal.sk/eia/detail/program-na-zlepsenie-kvality-ovzdusia-pre-zonu-nitriansky-kraj

The participants had the opportunity to raise their comments in the discussion. They also used this opportunity to clarify the proposed measures and expressed their agreement with the seriousness of the air quality situation in the Nitra Region. With the exception of the SHMÚ, no comments were received on the program from the relevant permitting authorities, the Slovak Environmental Inspection, the Nitra Self-Governing Region Office, affected municipalities, or other affected authorities and organizations.