Brussels, 18/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the Commission decided to initiate the formal investigation procedure on HVC a one-off investment subsidy of over 5 million € to Noord-Holland Province in favour of Huisvuilcentrale Noord-Holland (HVC) a private company that is part owned by the local council. The aid intends to promote the transport of waste on inland waterways through the construction of a waste container terminal nearby HVC's incineration plant and constiutes around 70% of the total construction cost of the container terminal. At this stage, the information available does not allow the Commission to determinate if the planned State contribution is the least necessary to enable the realisation of the project. In addition, the Commission needs to analyse a possible distortion of competition between inland waterway terminals as well as the impact of the subsidy on the waste management market.