Albania Greens Rally Against Power Plant

Envrionmentalist protest agains the construction of the Lengarica power plant

Ilia Kondi, coordinator of the campaign group Center for Justice and Solidarity, said the construction of a power plant on the Lengarica in southern Albania would leave “no water left in the river.

“The Lengarica flows through a national park, and by law no construction is allowed there,” he added.

Local people will be holding a rally in the nearby town of Permet on November 22 in an attempt to block construction of the hydropower plant, he continued.

A BIRN investigation has revealed that the hydropower plant poses an environmental risk to the canyon, where an Austrian company nevertheless obtained a green light to go ahead with construction.

The plant is being financed by the International Finance Corporation, IFC, the commercial arm of the World Bank, and is being built by Enso Hydro of Austria through a local subsidiary, Lengarica & Energy.

Documents obtained by BIRN and interviews with experts and government officials show that Lengarica & Energy’s initial application for a permit was rejected owing to its negative impact on the Lengarica canyon and Hotova Pine national park.  

However, an environmental permit for the project was ultimately approved, apparently following political pressure.

The river canyon is a natural monument enjoying Category 1 protection status under Albanian law, “which does not allow for any sort of construction,” Zamir Dedej, head of Albania’s Institute for Nature Protection, recalled.

Enso Hydro admits that the plant is being constructed in a “sensitive” natural environment, but maintains that the work will have no impact on the canyon itself.

The company says that while it is using water that flows in the canyon, it is not actually building inside it, in the so-called Category 1 area.

It also underlines that it received all the construction permits it needs from the government – and says it is up to the authorities to monitor compliance with the permits.

“We were aware that it was a sensitive area,” Lengarica & Energy director Wolfgang Kropfl, said.

The World Bank, which controls 20 per cent of the project through its investment in Lengarica & Energy, says it reviewed the project under IFC Environmental Performance Standards criteria before deciding to finance it.

Albania’s centre-left government took power in September 2013 after its centre-right predecessor had already given the project the final go-ahead.

In the face of protests by environmental groups, it has since set up a taskforce to review the potential environmental impact.