Closed
* Admissibility date reflects the date the case was officially registered. All other dates pertain to the date in which a stage was completed.
Case Description
Complaint
The complaint concerns the alleged unmitigated environmental and social impact of a railway section between Tarragona and Sant Vicenç de Calders covered by the Mediterranean Railway Corridor, an EIB’s co-financed project.
EIB-CM Action
During the Initial Assessment, the EIB-CM identified two allegations concerning (i) the project’s unmitigated significant negative noise impact and (ii) the risk of contamination from accidents on the railway section concerned with the complaint. The allegation of non-compliance of the project with environmental impact assessment (EIA) law (classification of the project and absence of an EIA) was dismissed. This issue has been previously addressed in the Conclusion Report for the case for the Complaint SG/E/2015/03. The authorities followed the procedure called notification. This was confirmed by the promoter, which corroborated the application of the notification procedure under national law.
Following the EIB-CM review, the EIB-CM found allegations (i) and (ii) to be ungrounded. However, in its role to prevent future grounded complaints and contribute to a consistent and comprehensive appraisal, the EIB-CM issued one suggestion for improvement, as follows:
The EIB services are reminded that the operations within the EU must be compliant with all applicable environmental law, including where relevant the Environmental Noise Directive, as applicable in this case. The Bank should encourage the borrower to inform the public on how the significant, including cumulative, impacts are taken into account in every phase of the operation’s implementation, including the operational one.