TIRANA, Feb.8 – Environmentalists and other civil society groups staged a protest in downtown Tirana last Friday against government plans to allow the construction of a hydropower plant on the Vjosa River, thus reneging on past promises to grant the area protected status.
Activists demanded the annulment of all concessionary agreements regarding the construction of hydropower plants on the Vjosa River and its tributaries and urged the government to declare the area a national park. Additionally, protesters called for a three-year ban on all hydropower projects in Albania in order to better understand the effects such projects have on the environment.
Albanian authorities had earlier this month announced the opening of procedures for the construction of Poà§em hydropower plant on the Vjosa River under a 35-year concessionary agreement.
Last July the government had approved an unsolicited bid by the Turkish company à‡inar-San for the construction of this project.
Prime Minister Edi Rama had promised during the local elections campaign that the area would be turned into a national park, a move which not only would help preserve the river’s ecosystem, but it would also provide a boost to tourism in the area, hence providing a future to people living along its banks.
However, plans for the construction of power plants threaten to destroy once and for all this important biodiversity hotspot in Albania, but also Europe since Vjosa hosts a unique ecosystem and has been dubbed by activists as “The Blue Heart of Europe” .
The course of the river is not only characterized by beautiful canyons, but the wetlands created by the river also provide a habitat for spawning fish and migratory birds among others.
“This is a completely arbitrary decision which fails to take into consideration the clear messages by the European Union, but also that of experts and civil society representatives in Albania and Europe,” said Olsi Nika, representative of EcoAlbania and coordinator of the campaign “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” .
The European Parliament in its draft resolution on Albania’s progress in 2014 raised concerns over plans for building hydropower plants in protected areas including the Vjosa river and it urged the Albanian government to rethink its strategy.
If declared a national park, Vjosa would be the first natural river in Europe to obtain such protected status.
Activists are convinced that the construction of dams on the Vjosa River will cause irreparable damage to the river’s ecosystem, which is considered as one of the last wild rivers in Europe.
A total of eight hydropower plants are projected to be built on the Vjosa River and that would almost certainly lay to rest hopes for keeping untouched one of the last remaining untamed rivers in Europe.
Environmentalists repeated their calls for saving the river on Wednesday as the government was presenting to investors Vjosa’s potential for the construction of hydropower plants.
