The Minister Who Eats Protected Areas/How Kumbaro Put Llamani Bay Under the Claws of Concrete

In 2015, three experts from the Institute for Nature Conservation in Albania drafted the Management Plan for the Porto Palermo Bay-Llamani Natural Park.

In the long document, Zamir Dedej, Genti Kromidha and Nihat Dragoti defined the boundaries of what they believed should be the protected area of ??this Park. This is the map with the boundaries of the Protected Area in the photo.

Protected area boundaries 2015

"The most prominent points for the Protected Area that require special attention and inviolability are: Alpun Cape, Llaman Beach, Kavadarci Cape, Armeridhë Bay, the army tunnel, the cave, the Aliu Peninsula and Castle, the amphorae, the Euphorbia formation, the Church of Saint Nicholas, the Bay of Saint Nicholas, the Cape of Panormija, the Bay of Gravës and the Cape of Spinarasi, etc.," the Management Plan states.

The Management Plan was contracted by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment itself. After its completion, the Ministry of Environment prepared the draft decision “On the declaration of the Natural Marine-Coastal Ecosystem of the Gulf of Porto Palermo-Llamani “Natural Park”. But even though it was officially launched for public consultation, the draft decision never saw the light of approval in the Council of Ministers.

For many years, the Management Plan for the Porto Romanos-Llamani Bay Park was kept in the drawers of the Ministry of Environment. Until 2022.

In June 2022, the Ministry of Environment sent the Himara Municipality the initiative to declare the Porto Palermo Bay-Llamani protected area with the status of a Natural Park, requesting the municipality to conduct hearings with the community.

The initiative of the Ministry of Environment was transformed into a government decision just a month later. At the meeting of July 29, 2022, through decision number 557, the government approved the declaration of the natural coastal ecosystem of the Gulf of Porto-Palermo as a "Natural Park". However, the boundaries of the area were not those defined in the 2015 Management Plan.

Protected area boundaries 2022

This is the map of the protected area that the government approved. As can be seen, its northern border had been moved further south, enough to exclude Llamani Bay, which experts in the management plan emphasized should be inviolable.

The boundaries of the protected area were not changed by chance. Kumbaro's decision was not dictated by the public interest, but by narrow economic interests. And the repercussions of the affair were felt three years later.

A month ago, the National Council of Territory and Water approved the construction permit for a 63-room hotel on Llamani beach. The hotel, designed by Portuguese studio Ooda, will be built by the company Bega-07.

The project for the resort in Llaman

The company claims that it purchased the land from private individuals and did not benefit from the state. But the origin of the ownership of coastal lands in the South is questionable due to the manipulations and falsifications that have occurred over the years. Even more so for the sand areas.

However, the issue of ownership is a broader topic. What happened with Llamani is that Kumbaro handed it over to economic interests, while the experts who were supposed to protect it no longer felt like it because along the way they got involved with the government. Some with positions and some with projects. / Kapital.al

Kufijte e zones se mbrojtur 2015

Kufijte e zones se mbrojtur 2022

Projekti për resortin në Llaman