Dutch funding cleans Bishti i Palles pesticides

TIRANA, Aug. 30 – Some 320 tons of pesticides and other chemicals considered a risk to public health and the environment from an abandoned plant outside a western port city were removed and eliminated in a project funded by Netherlands, local authorities and the Dutch embassy said Wednesday. The Netherlands has provided Albania with a 2 million grant which was used to make the study and fund the removal of pesticides and other chemicals at the former chemical plant in Bishti i Palles, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tirana, and close to the port city of Durres, where they had stayed for 15 years, according to a statement. German company Sava, which was chosen for the project, packed the pesticides considered with high toxic consequences, transported them to Germany where they were also eliminated. The former state-run plant, which closed down after the fall of communism in 1990, is along the coastline of Durres Bay, considered to be the country’s main beach tourist area. There has been no indication that the chemicals have run off into the sea, but some residents in the area have reported health problems and pesticides have entered the local water supply. The chemicals have also affected local agriculture. About 70 families live in the area. Post-communist Albania, one of Europe’s poorest nations, has been trying to deal with the problem of pollution from closed industrial plants. The Netherlands’ funding is part of a World Bank program in Albania “to protect Albania’s coastal and marine natural resources and promote sustainable tourism development,” the Dutch Embassy said in a statement.