 |
| Elbasan incinerator (archive) |
The incinerators of Elbasan and Fier are out of order and the mountains of waste around them risk a new environmental crisis, but the government seems to have no plan for managing the situation.
Asked by BIRN if the government had a management plan for the new environmental crisis created due to the malfunctioning of the incinerators in Elbasan and Fier, deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku addressed the problem to the local authorities.
"Cases are different," said Balluku, adding that "the municipality of Elbasan has a lease contract with the foreclosure company, and for any question, you can contact the municipality".
Balluku claimed that the Elbasan incinerator is functional and that it has produced energy. "But after 3 years of operation, like any other technology, it can have its repair times," she added.
As for the Fieri incinerator, Balluku said that the data should be requested from the Seized and Confiscated Assets Agency.
"It was taken over by the Seizure Agency due to the procedure. When it was received, it was not finished, but to my knowledge, they are continuing the process of building the incinerator," she said.
Earlier, BIRN took a close look at the large piles of garbage in both incinerators and found their malfunction, while the municipality of Elbasan did not answer questions about why the incinerator does not work, nor about the environmental risks caused by burying waste in the landfill.
Despite Balluku's claim that the incinerator has been working, the company with public capital, ECO-ELB, created by all the municipalities of the district in April 2022, described the situation created as an emergency, through a request for equipment with an accelerated license for energy production, addressed to the Energy Regulatory Entity.
Both of these investments have cost Albanian taxpayers around 58 million euros but were seized by the Special Prosecutor's Office, SPAK, after the investigations launched for the criminal offenses of corruption, abuse of office, and money laundering against the former Minister of the Environment, Lefter Koka, former socialist deputy, Alqi Blako and other government officials.