In a press conference, the Organization for the Protection and Conservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) stated that works in the Pishë Poro-Nartë protected area are continuing with high intensity and in a complete lack of transparency, despite the objections of local and international environmentalists, who described this project as illegal.
"Concrete pits are being seen everywhere as a precursor to a massive enclosure that will include all the beaches located between the Narta lagoon and the Adriatic Sea," said Aleksandër Trajçe, executive director of PPNEA.
"Due to these works, public access to that area is being limited. There is also aggression at the construction site towards filming or our approach," he added during the press conference, emphasizing that the roads being paved by concrete mixers in the protected area appear to be permanent and not provisional.
In early May, several environmental activists in Albania denounced a series of works being carried out within the Pishë Poro-Nartë area, raising concerns that a new construction site is being built within the protected landscape.
According to environmentalists, a response from the Territory Protection Inspectorate confirms that there is in fact a permit to carry out the works, as well as a preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment, but they have never been made public.
"However, no EIA document has been made available to us, and this document has not even been made public. We have made a second request for information and are awaiting their response," Trajçe told BIRN.
Present at the press conference, Annette Spangenberg, head of conservation programs at the German environmental organization EuroNatur, similarly stated that in fact transparency regarding these works does not exist.
"It is clear that these plans were in the air before, but there is no transparency about them," Spanenberg said during her speech.
The EuroNatur activist further added that it is very important that the European Union closely monitor these works and increase pressure on the Albanian government so that the works are stopped as soon as possible.
Even according to Zydjon Vorpsi, policy director at PPNEA, this project is being developed "in the dark", without any explanatory signs or notices at the construction site.
Vorpsi highlighted that the project not only lacks transparency, but also causes extensive damage to the environment.
"Hundreds of years old sand dunes are disappearing within 24 hours," said Vorpsi.
Aleksandër Trajçe also added that the project is being developed precisely at the peak of the reproduction season of many species of wildlife and living things in this protected area, which means that these works will translate into the extinction of these species. /BIRN/
