By Boldnews.al
The National Agency for Protected Areas (AKZM), which is subordinated to the Ministry of Environment has opened a call for a tender in violation of the law. According to documents available at Boldnews.al, this institution has decided to rehabilitate an area in the Dajti National Park that has been damaged by quarries that have worked for some years there.
But this tender is in flagrant violation with the law, as the obligation to rehabilitate the damaged area is the company that has been carrying out quarry operations. According to the Law No. 10304 “On the Mining Sector in the Republic of Albania” in Article 16 it is stated that the mining company “must take all necessary measures to prevent damage to the vegetation and landscaping or other assets and to rehabilitate it all damage to the surface of the earth, made during search – discovery – exploitation. ”
But despite that, AKZM has opened a call to the Public Procurement Agency where it invites companies for the tender “Rehabilitation of the Quarry / Second Phase” and a limit fund of 24 532 000 lek (new). The suspicious tender is expected to take place on November 21st, while Boldnews.al has the technical specifications and identified the company that has excavated the Dajti National Park.
It is a quarry that has excavated and worked in the area known as Qafë-Priska, licensed by the Ministry of Environment. The company “LIVELADA” has received the environmental permit on August 16, 2013, on the outgoing government of “Berisha”, whereas now is a closed activity.
The scandal deepens even further as the company “LIVELADA” has received the environmental permit in 2013, despite the resulting and unregistered mining activity by the Ministry of Energy and Industry in 2011.
And if not enough, even in the environmental permit is clearly written that the rehabilitation phase is a process that is carried out by the company and is monitored rigorously by the monitoring institutions. But in this case, the Ministry of the Environment has decided to use public funds to rehabilitate the area without any legal basis.
The area for which the investment will be carried out by the Ministry of Environment is on an area of 10,000 m2 in which it is intended to return to its former state by adapting to the natural condition of the surrounding area.
It is believed that the percentage of plant root catches is 85%, but experts say quarries in the Dajti Park have done irreparable damage.
Wrong tender
In the series of violations, the Ministry of Environment today is headed by Mr. Lefter Koka has allocated 240 million ALL to the rehabilitation of the area destroyed by the company “LIVELADA”.
But this tender is in overriding competence, as with the new law, approval of rehabilitation plans is not carried out by the Ministry of Environment but by the National Agency of Natural Resources (AKBN), although the latter does not have the function of protecting the environment and has no structure or technical capacity.
In addition, the Ministry of Energy and Industry has through the law mandated to require quarry companies to provide financial guarantees for environmental rehabilitation before they operate in the market. So, more simply, rehabilitation should not be done with the taxes of the Albanian citizens but with the money of the company that exploited and damaged this natural protected area.
After the end of the quarry’s activity, this area is considered dead and without a tourist interest. Even in this area is seen that there are also dumpsites of construction waste. The damage to this quarry in the Dajti National Park is colossal. Heavy machinery that has eroded the skarpats have managed to fregate habitats and remove fauna in the National Park.
- The Dajti National Park has been announced by a government decision since 2006 as a protected area, but it seems that this law has been nil for as long as the quarrying situation is catastrophic.
