Works in Shushicë resume despite residents' protests

After the work was suspended in January due to residents' protests, the company that is building the Himara water supply in Shushicë resumed work on Wednesday, March 12, despite a lawsuit in court and residents of 30 villages on the Vlora river opposing the project.

" The works had been suspended for a while and their work permit from the Himara municipality had expired. Almost a week ago they received permission again, despite the fact that we strongly opposed this story ," said Astrit Balilaj, a resident of the area.

Balilaj told BIRN that on Wednesday, spontaneously, 40-50 residents who had gathered in Kuç over their problems, including the village's unfinished water supply, were confronted by company employees and asked to leave.

" It was spontaneous. We found the employees working and told them that we want to talk and are waiting for answers and clarification from the state and asked them to stop the work so that we don't have a conflict. We told them to remove the tools until we solve this problem ," says Balilaj. He says that the employees contacted their superiors and the police and then left and took the tools.

But according to him, the move was only to avoid confrontation with residents. He says the company returned to work again on Thursday, March 13, and this time it was accompanied by police. “ Today we noticed that work was continuing today and there was also a police presence ,” he said. He said there had been no new protests, but added that residents of the area have been waiting for explanations and information for months, but authorities have neither attended the meetings they organized nor invited them to listen.

Balilaj says they oppose the project because the pipelines being installed prove that the amount of water that will be taken is much greater than the verbal promises. According to him, the residents were verbally promised that only 1/3 of the water would be taken and that a local resident would be employed at the control point, but in practice the pipeline does not change. According to him, the theory of employing a resident to control the flow of water that is taken is a mockery.

"It seems like they are making fun of us. At a minimum, the state should come and call us and explain and agree on a different solution. We are forced to continue the protests," he said.

Environmental activist from Eco Albania, Besjana Guri, told BIRN that the insistence on continuing the works while the disputes have not been resolved is unacceptable.

"Continued efforts to push forward this project, despite clear opposition from the community and experts, are unacceptable. Shushica is part of the Wild Vjosa River National Park and the extraction of water from its main source violates its integrity and the biodiversity of the area. We stand united with the residents in this battle," said Guri.

The Shushica is one of two tributaries of the Vjosa River, which was declared a national park in March 2023. The Himara Water Supply Project envisages diverting water from the source of the Shushica River to channel it through a 17 km pipeline towards the Himara coast in order to meet the demands of mass tourism.

Residents, meanwhile, raise suspicions that the large-scale pipelines are not being installed simply for water supply, but could be used for hydroelectric power plants. In December last year, the Administrative Court overturned plans for 4 hydroelectric power plants on this river, after complaints from residents and environmental organizations. The projects for the hydroelectric power plants were approved 3 years ago./ reporter.al