Parliament asks government to rehabilitate flooded area

TIRANA, Jan. 19 – The parliament held a special session Monday, the first this year, to discuss the flooding in northwestern Albania.
The session was considered as extraordinary from the governing Democratic Party which also heads the parliament.
But the opposition continued its boycott claiming that it would have been extraordinary only if it was called by them and accused the government of showmanship.
The parliament session, which was broadcast live by many television stations, heard Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his cabinet ministers’ report on the situation in the flooded area and the steps they were to make in the future.
Berisha harshly criticized the opposition Socialist Party of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama for not supporting their efforts in supporting the effects of the flooding this year in Shkodra and Lezha.
He also dismissed all the accusations made by the opposition that the situation of the Drini River cascade was badly managed by the government for saving water last year in order to increase profits from selling energy this year.
Berisha proudly said that they had managed to save all human lives in what is considered the biggest emergency operation held in the country. He considered the management of the Drini River and also the water discharge as very professional, though more than 11,000 hectares of agriculture land and about 2,500 houses were flooded.
All the ministers said the same thing. The session was turned into a show of the cabinet of the successful results in coping with the flooding and also harshly criticizing the opposition for not participating.
The parliament passed a resolution at the end asking the government to commit funding to recovering the area. All institutions were asked to start the rehabilitation of life in the area and the government to prepare a long-term strategy to prevent other flooding in the future.
But the parliament lacked the opposing voice as the opposition continued its boycott.