Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke on his podcast "Flasim", where he once again focused on the issue of investment in Zvërnec and the protests against this project.
He stated that 10 years ago in Albania there was no talk of protected areas and that flamingos were killed and eaten, while the environment was often exposed to damage, while today, according to him, the situation has changed significantly thanks to government interventions.
Rama also mentioned the inclusion of Lake Shkodra in UNESCO, describing it as an important achievement for the country and the protection of natural heritage.
"10 years ago, when asked, flamingos were killed and eaten. 10 years ago, there was no talk of protected areas, because they were uninhabited lands and much of what should have been protected was being taken over by greed."
What would have happened if we had not expanded the map of protected areas?
Albania this week received good news with the inclusion of Lake Shkodra in the UNESCO biosphere, another significant example that Albania is not governed by a force that destroys, but by a force that builds, not by a force that abuses the environment and natural and cultural heritage, but rather by a force that seeks to harmonize the two.
Because, if the solution is either to conserve or to build, it means you have not understood anything from the development of recent decades.
The Zvërnec area is not an overpopulated area, but there are interests and people working there who claim their properties, even where the project will be developed.
I went there and met those who have an interest and property rights. What I heard was a completely different concern about concrete issues, and in the end everything was positive, between people discussing like human beings, without jumping at each other's throats.
And what impressed me was that I didn't hear anyone say that this investment should be stopped; on the contrary, there was a concern that "may it not be stopped, may it not be lost."
Maybe that's what you want. I don't believe that's what you want, but maybe that's the goal, to live only with flamingos, which 99.99% of those who protect them have never seen with their own eyes. I don't know. Look at this work.
"In the meantime, the project will be done, to be very clear. The project will be done because it is a great good for our economy. It is a great blessing for Vlora and it is a great epochal leap for tourist Albania and for European Albania," said Rama.