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VOA analysis: Flood damage and the need for compensation

2023-01-22 22:09:09Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
VOA analysis: Flood damage and the need for compensation
Flood damage and the need for compensation

In Albania, within the last three months, the Nenshkodra area has been flooded three times, causing extensive damage to the economy of thousands of families, but also to public infrastructure and the environment. The municipality of Shkodra demands that the damages be compensated by the electric power corporation, as the cause of the floods, while the government representatives say that the damages are compensated by the funds that the municipalities plan every beginning of the year for cases of civil emergencies.

While the flood situation in the area of ​​Ninshkodra is moving towards normalization after the temporary cessation of intense rains, the damage that the floods caused, mainly in agricultural lands and greenhouses, is slowly coming to light. The local leaders of Shkodra are convinced that, just like in previous years, the floods in the area of ​​Nënshkodra were caused by the discharges of the Vau Dejës hydropower plant, which is also the last in the cascade of the Drin river, so the damages must also be compensated by the corporation electroenergetic.

"Since December, we have asked for Fierza to be well managed, because it is also the regulator of the entire cascade, but now it has gone to the maximum quotas and, unfortunately, our unit is under the water authority", says administrator Arben Cemi.

Administrator Cemi says that, within the last three months, this area was flooded three times. On November 21, the flood reached 2,583 hectares, while today 1,200 hectares of agricultural land are still under water. In the flood of the last few weeks, up to 900 cubic meters of water per second were discharged from the Vau Dejës hydropower plant tunnel, according to KESH.

If KESH causes damage, due to the discharges from the gates, this story must be put to an end and a law must be drawn up, so that KESH compensates the residents who are affected by the floods, because these residents cannot risk and are subject to constant floods that almost happen every year", says the deputy mayor of Shkodra Municipality, Tonin Deda.

For the Minister of Defense Niko Peleshi, the government has distributed 10 million euros to municipalities to cope with civil emergencies, funds that municipalities must use immediately for emergencies or natural disasters.

"We are allocating 10 million dollars now with the new budget, which is exactly the moment that fund should be activated. It is for these types of situations that the fund is intended to be used. This is the case, this is the opportunity, without bureaucratic procedures. All are simplified and municipalities should assist. We are also available with the state's reserves if there is a need for more support if the possibilities of the local government are exhausted."

Meanwhile, the director of the Civil Protection Agency, Haki Çako, admits the problems in the distribution of these funds, which has created difficulties for the municipalities to quickly come to the aid of the residents of areas at risk of flooding.

"Regarding the funds for the issue of emergencies, the government has been and is very attentive. There was a technical problem in the labeling of the compensation in relation to the needs of the decision of the Council of Ministers no. 414 that clearly defines both the need for investment and the need to purchase services. It is a slip, perhaps, between the Ministry of Finance and the operation itself".

But, according to the deputy mayor of the municipality of Shkodra, Tonin Deda, the experience of the last few months shows that it is necessary to have new legal changes in the law on civil emergencies in order to act more quickly in the endangered areas.

And while the central and local institutions have not yet agreed on whose responsibility is the damage caused by the floods, the residents of Nănshkodra continue, since 2010-2011, to face the consequences of the almost annual floods, which are devastating the economy of the area and their families./ VOA


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