Lubonjë village in Korça on alert/ Damage to embankment puts homes and residents at risk

2025-11-25 11:52:00, Aktualitet CNA

Lubonjë village in Korça on alert/ Damage to embankment puts homes

In the village of Lubonjë in Korça, residents have raised concerns about a situation that is escalating after recent rainfall. According to them, the flooding is a consequence of uncontrolled and poor-quality works on the river embankment, carried out just a month ago.

The village head, Albert Hima, underlines that the interventions in the riverbed were carried out without the proper standards and without technical supervision. He states that the damage has endangered the main road connecting the two neighborhoods of the village and that if the river overflows its bed, Lubonja could face considerable damage, given that around 75 families with 350 inhabitants live there.

"A flood occurred in Lubonjë due to heavy rainfall. This was caused by a company that finished work on the river 20 days ago, did not do quality work and did it without any control. I raised my concerns with the mayor and the director of urban planning, but they told me that you have no right to deal with this work. The river has completely broken down, the main road of the village that connects both neighborhoods is at risk. The residents are affected by the fact that the river is rising and destroying half of the village. In Lubonjë there are about 75 families with 350 inhabitants ," said Albert Hima, mayor of the village of Lubonjë.

Residents say that the newly completed investment was destroyed by the first floods of the river, which according to them shows serious shortcomings in the project and in the way the work was carried out. They say that the embankment has cracked in several segments and that homes are under constant danger. In some cases, water has entered homes and the flow has also taken livestock, causing losses for families.

"The project that was done here was done without an engineer and outside the standards. It's been a month since the works were finished and with the first river flows, it destroyed the entire investment. It is not known who is responsible for this work, but it is not normal for the river embankment to break with the first flow. We feel endangered because the entire embankment has been breached and if the same situation occurs with rainfall, all the houses could be flooded. Water has entered the houses, and the flow of water has even taken some livestock and the village was extremely endangered ," said resident Kudret Xhixho.

Another resident said that the river embankment was of very poor quality, while calling on the authorities to hold those who carried out the works accountable.

"It has caused problems because all the mountain waters have merged and come to the village. The river embankment was built with very low quality. The risk is that our homes will be flooded. Livestock is also at risk. The river flow took 7 heads from one of the residents. The state should take action, hold those who did the work accountable," said resident Kadri Turani.

According to them, the works on the river were carried out without the minimum technical bases, with insufficient materials and without the necessary lateral filling. The field notes that the weir should have been built higher, in the part near the power plant, to avoid the sliding of stones and materials towards the river.

"The works on the river were done with poor quality, without side filling, with 10 ponts of cement. The dam should have been built at the top of the village, near the power plant, so that when stones came from above, they would not end up in the river ," said resident Shkëlqim Murati.

Residents demand that institutions intervene immediately, investigate responsibilities, and guarantee a lasting solution to avoid the risk of another flood that could damage their homes, lands, and livestock. /CNA