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Costing 1.2 million euros, the camera towers for forest monitoring are sold for scrap

2023-08-03 11:45:28Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Costing 1.2 million euros, the camera towers for forest monitoring are sold for

Residents of the village of Fshat in the Municipality of Klos were quite surprised when in 2016 a tall, metal tower was erected not far from their homes. Equipped with solar panels, with cameras with a rotation angle of 360 degrees, the tower would serve as a "policeman" to monitor the smuggling of timber, which was taken from the forests of Guri Bardhë and Xibri.

"They told us: "We have put it in the corner, to discover those who cut wood in the mountains", - says Halit Zeneli, a resident of the area, without knowing which institution the workers who made the installations belonged to. But, 7 years later, while the tower has only the bars left, the forest smuggling continues. No one knows where the cameras, solar panels and other equipment placed there have ended up.

Costing 1.2 million euros, the camera towers for forest monitoring are sold for
Photo of the tower in the village of Fshat

Halit Zeneli, who lives just a few meters away from this monitoring point, says that it has been operating for about two years. After that, no one was interested and it fell prey to robbery.

"We know that the cameras were taken by three young men. There was a kabull that supplied it with energy, but it has also disappeared. The only one left is this iron tower, which we, the villagers, did not allow them to take, as they wanted to take it for scrap", explains Zeneli.

This tower was part of the national forest smuggling monitoring system that was set up 7 years ago across the country. In each of these towers, 7 high-resolution cameras were installed, solar panels for power supply, so that they could work without interruption. The construction of this system cost a total of 1.2 million euros (128.6 million ALL), an investment that today has been completely destroyed.

With the ambition to stop the illegal cutting of forests, the Ministry of Environment at that time fired hundreds of specialists who monitored the forests in the field, who were "replaced" with cameras. Despite the expenses for its construction, experts are convinced that, not only has this investment not had any positive impact, but it has even increased the costs.

"About 700 unfairly fired specialists, the absolute majority of them won the lawsuits with the ministry and were paid. There are specialists who continue to be paid to this day because of that absurd decision of the ministry", - says the Forestry engineer, Abdulla Diku.

According to him, if the funds spent on the cameras, for their installation and maintenance had been used properly, "maybe the entire Bovilla basin would have been reforested and Tirana would have cleaner and safer water for its residents today. her".

The failed camera project

In 2016, the former State Inspectorate of Environment, Forests, Water and Tourism (ISHMPUT), which at that time managed all the forest economies of our country, decided to build a digital monitoring system of the main roads in the country, from where it was thought to be smuggled timber. This decision came simultaneously with the establishment of a 10-year moratorium on deforestation.

The tender for "Purchase of the electronic forest monitoring system" was opened in February 2016 and the company "FASTECH" was declared the winner, with a value of 128,629,690 ALL, very close to the limit fund of 133,333,503 ALL.

28 monitoring towers equipped with cameras were built throughout the country, but they failed to catch any "abuser". Official data show that cases of illegal logging, found both on roads and in forest funds, were almost the same as in previous years. According to the data provided by the General Directorate of the State Police, it results that in the period 2015-2020, 1,528 cases of illegal cutting of forests with 1,675 perpetrators were found. The seized timber exceeds several thousand cubic meters. Although INA MEDIA requested to be made available the data on how many of the cases of violations were ascertained from the monitoring points, this information was not made available to us.

The monitoring tower in Klos Katund village of Klos Municipality has completely disappeared. As evidenced by the photos provided by Investigative Network Albania, the surveillance cameras, solar panels and even the iron tower no longer exist. Only the concrete foundation, where the tower was placed, remains. It would serve to monitor the illegal cutting of Martanesh's forests.

Costing 1.2 million euros, the camera towers for forest monitoring are sold for
Photo of the site of the monitoring tower in Klos, Katund

Quite differently, in the village of Burgajet i Matit, the forest monitoring tower does not work, but is almost intact. This is probably due to the fact that it is located near some houses and it has been difficult for others to damage or steal materials. In the same way, the monitoring tower in Fushë Bulqiza, which is located next to the national road, has all the elements, but it is not known whether it is in operation or not.

Costing 1.2 million euros, the camera towers for forest monitoring are sold for
Photo of the tower in the village of Burgajet, Mat

The two forest smuggling monitoring towers, located a few years ago in the village of Fshat and Klos Katund of the Klos Municipality, which have now disappeared, cost 2.6 million ALL.

The frequent changes of the inspectorates, but also of the forest administration method itself, have caused these monitoring towers to end up as goods "without a god".

The Forestry and Pasture Administration Sector at the Klos Municipality says that these monitoring points were not and are not assets of the municipality, while admitting that monitoring deforestation is a big challenge, mostly due to the pronounced lack of means of transport.

"We have no infrastructure for controlling the territory, as we lack means of transport. In most cases, we control the territory with our own tools", says Kapllan Allamani, responsible for the forestry sector in the Municipality of Klos. According to him, the most problematic areas are those bordering Tirana, Dibra, Bulqiza and Kruja due to the remoteness and difficult terrain.

On the other hand, ADZM, Dibër says that it has never had in its inventory the cameras located in the territory of Dibër district. In a comment on this matter, given to INA MEDIA, this institution says that it has no knowledge of this investment and that this system was neither administered nor used by them, as it was part of ISHMPUT- since it was built.

From an observation made by INA MEDIA on the mountain of Xibër-Murrizë village, the cutting of beech trees continues. Residents say that this was also influenced by the construction of the Murriz bypass, which is part of the Arbri Road, which creates ease of transport to Tirana or the cities of the Dibër district.

Costing 1.2 million euros, the camera towers for forest monitoring are sold for
Trees cut on Murriza mountain

The municipality of Klos admits that this area, although it is part of the map of protected areas, remains the most problematic and has fallen prey to smuggling due to the works on Arbri Street.

"With the opening of the bypass, we think that the illegal cutting of trees in the Linos-Guri i Bardhë-Bizë-Martanesh protected area has been favored", - admits Kapllan Allamani from the Municipality of Klos.

"As for Mount Murriz, the old road from Qafa e Murrizit-Qaf Qershi-Kroi i Pajna-Zgurë-Ura e Karthniqi is a protected area under ADZM, Dibër, but, even though it is under ADZM , our inspectors constantly check and are notified of illegal logging. After that, we inform ADZM", he concludes.

Forest experts say that this was a useless investment, as long as the administrations do not have people and specialists to monitor the forests. According to them, the smugglers also found a solution to the cameras.

"Even if the cameras had worked, they would have filmed and shown the fact that the forests have been cut, but they have not helped at all to prevent the cutting. As for everything else, the offenders also found the "solution" for the cameras. Sometimes they covered them, so they wouldn't film, and sometimes they diverted a piece of road to avoid them. In the end, I think the offenders won", - explains Diku.

The investment of millions of euros, "commodity without a god"

At the end of 2019, the inspectorates underwent a total reform and ISHMPUT was merged as an institution. As a result, this investment of 1.2 million euros was left without a master, bringing about their destruction.

The Ministry of Environment was reminded that it had under administration such an investment, only after the request sent by Investigative Network Albania. 4 years after the merger of the central inspectorate, still today the institutions are not able to say what happened to these towers or, even less, to have an inventory of them. There is no talk of results.

The Ministry of Environment is justified by the fact that the restructuring process of other institutions, where the competences of ISHMPUT were distributed, has not yet been completed. However, the ministry says in a written response that this system is currently in the process of being transferred to the newly created Forestry Agency.

"As part of the procedures undertaken to close all obligations in the event of the merger/closure of an institution, the Electronic Forest Monitoring System was temporarily transferred to the MMT and is currently in the process of being transferred to the National Forestry Agency, an institution in depending on MMT, newly created after the merger of ISHMPUT", the Ministry of Environment told INA MEDIA at the end of May.

In a written response, the National Forestry Agency exposes the Ministry of Environment, denying that it has taken ownership, as a result, it does not know what has been done with this system. The National Forestry Agency itself was informed that this "investment" would be transferred only after the letter from INA MEDIA.

"This system has not been used by the PAK. Regarding the fact who owns it, is it in operation or not, as well as the physical and technical condition of the camera stations in the territory, you should seek information from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment", says the National Forestry Agency.

However, AKP clarifies that, on the same day that it responded to INA MEDIA, the Ministry of Environment also addressed a letter to the National Forestry Agency, with the subject "Request for the initiation of the procedure for the free capital transfer of the System Electronic Monitoring of Forests", recorded with no. 387 prot., dated 25.05.2023.

So, apparently, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism was reminded of the transfer of this system to the National Forestry Agency, only after receiving the request for information from Investigative Network Albania dated 28.04.2023 and only one day before the return of the answer dated 26.05 .2023, i.e. on 25.05.2023, the Ministry of Tourism and Environment has started the procedure of transferring the Electronic Forest Monitoring System to the National Forestry Agency.

Taking stock of this initiative, which they consider political and not technical, experts insist that it was a multidimensional failure, which has led to the destruction of the country's forest fund.

"This is an extraordinary cost, not only from the cut timber, but above all because the costs for the regeneration of the destroyed forests have already exceeded billions of euros. From this initiative we must learn the right lessons once and for all", - explains the forest engineer, Abdulla Diku. And according to engineer Abdulla Diku, the amount of timber, which is cut in a year in our country, is much greater than what is created by nature.

"In Albania, about 2.5 million m3 of timber are expected per year, while the annual growth of forests is about 1.4 million m3/year. So, we expect about 1.1 million m3 more than the annual, natural growth of forests", he explains.

As a result of massive deforestation, Albania is today the country with the highest erosion in Europe (12.5 times more erosion than the average of EU countries).

"Currently, we do not have forest specialists on the ground to cover, control and manage the forest areas, thus criminals and high informality in this sector have been left free (about 90% of wood products, which taken from the forest, not paid). The few people who are paid in the forestry sector have nothing to do with the work and the relevant profession", - concludes Diku. /INAmedia

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