TIRANA, Sept. 7 – The opposition Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj over alleged waste management violations that led to the death of an illegally employed teenager at the Sharra landfill just outside the capital a month ago.
“The Democratic Party has filed criminal charges against Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj over a big number of legal violations causing the death of 17-year-old Ardit Gjoklaj at the Sharra landfill a month ago,” say opposition DP councilors at the Tirana municipality.
According to them, Socialist Party Mayor Veliaj faces charges of abuse of power, illegal employment, failure to take preventive measures on the illegal activity and violation of equality in public tenders in the establishment of public-run Eco Tirana waste management enterprise and the suspicious award of a 49 percent stake to an Italian enterprise.
Last August, police arrested four people over the teen’s death at the Sharra landfill facilities where 17-year-old Ardit Gjoklaj is believed to have been accidentally hit by diggers while working as uninsured in the facility. The Albanian administrator of the “3R” company contracted by the municipality to manage waste at the landfill is still on the run.
Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj had threatened individual waste collectors, most of whom poor and vulnerable people from the Roma community, with prison time and fines over illegally collecting recyclable materials from Tirana waste bins, urging them to work legally at the Sharra landfill.
A BIRN investigation has unveiled the campaign initiated by the Tirana Mayor hid the interests of a private company that benefited recyclable waste from the Sharra landfill under unclear contractual relations with the Municipality of Tirana, the official owner of recyclable material.
The opposition Democrats says the Eco Tirana company where Italian-owned Holding AGSM Albania has a 49 percent stake, will illegally benefit Euro 2.5 million a year for the next 25 years.
The Tirana Municipality has earlier described accusations by the opposition Democratic Party as politically motivated, supporting investigations into the incident.
With waste recycling at almost a standstill following a 2013 ban on waste imports, several ruling Socialist Party MPs have proposed lifting a ban on waste imports in a bid to give a boost to the ailing recycling industry which has seen a cut in investment and jobs since the late 2013 government decision.
The amendments to the integrated waste management law target reintroducing imports of non-hazardous waste to help one of the key industries in the country recover.
The amount of municipal waste generated by Albanians rose to 396 kg/person in 2015, up from 355 kg in 2014 and 321 kg in 2013, according to a report by state statistical institute, INSTAT.
Some 69 percent of municipal waste is landfilled, about a quarter is recycled, 2.5 percent is incinerated and 2 percent is still dumped.
