Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

2023-06-13 21:30:35, Denoncim CNA

Fiks Fare proved with voice and documents that the Natural Monument "Canyons of Osum" in Skrapar has found its owner!

Citizen Andon Lushaj from Skrapari complained to the editors of the investigative show. He said that he is a resident of the area, but lives in Vlora. Since he knew the Osum River and the Canyons very well, 5 years ago he erected a wooden construction near the Canyons, at the Ura e Zabërzan site. There was only one tent, with planks and the bottom paved with stone slabs. He received permission from the Municipality of Skrapar, he paid the dues of 300,000 old lek per season.

Lushaj claims that next to the place where he used to work, there is also a wooden construction, erected by the Municipality of Skrapar in 2016. However, his place was in mud and in the sludge that the river brings out.

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

"In 2022, a person named Dashi Satko came to me and told me that the place where I had erected the wooden structure was his property. He came to me with the police and they proceeded to seize my property," Lushaj asserted, as he asserted that the place was not his property, but the state's, and it was on the river.

"How did it become private?! If it's private, I don't even go anymore. Neither there nor will I bathe in the river," continues the citizen, as he claims that in the winter season, the place where he had the wooden structure, fills with water.

"I was in harmony with the environment. Now they don't give me permission, it's not private, they don't have protected areas. Where were the protected areas when this river owner came out?” asserts the whistleblower, as he adds that there are several activities near the Canyons, but only his was closed.

"When they came here to me, they didn't see the other ones. 50 meters away from me is another one that is not closed either by the Municipality or by the Protected Areas", concludes Lushaj.

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

After this complaint, Fiks Fare journalists talk with the Mayor of Skrapar, Adriatik Mema. "Where the wooden structure is built is state property, regardless of the claims that a certain individual has on that surface! And since they were built, if I'm not mistaken, in 2016, the individual in question had no reason to bring up the problem today. But he should have taken it out since then see you are building on my land. The point is that last year I gave permission for the exercise of this business to this gentleman (the whistleblower) on that surface which is, let's say, by the river. While the wooden structure is still higher than this. During the past year, I have encountered problems and complaints from another subject who claims that this is my property because he bought a forest, let's say, very close to this area," says Mema.

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

"It means that I, as the Municipality, have faced two situations. An individual claiming this is my property, which is not true, and a government agency such as Protected Areas saying this is a protected area. This situation went to the prosecutor's office last year. And I have presented to the Prosecutor's Office of the Berat Judicial District all the documentation and all the arguments where I told them that, to this day, I stand by the option that this property is state property!" added Mayor Skrapar, repeating that "state property is also where Mr. Lushaj, where that wooden structure was built!"

"She's crazy, sir! Even today, as a municipality, I maintain that it is a shingle, because even today if you go there, if it rains there, it floods during the winter. It is so close to the river. It means that it is never a forest in the world. In the place where Mr. Lushaj has been active for many years, it was the road that the residents of that area used to access, it was their road to the bridge, the one known as the "Zabërzan Bridge".

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

"It means that the claim of someone who says it's my property because it's very, very close to the river falls. Zallishte!" continued Mema.

In the end, he said that the area in question will be rehabilitated to turn it into a children's camp.

Fiksi also contacted the person who became the owner of the entrance to the Canyon, Dashi Satko, asking him about this issue.

"I did not tell him that it is private property! I have removed the documents and it has been determined by an expert where it was and it is visible, it is not with words! This thing is with official documents. What documents does that gentleman have?" he asserted.

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

Journalists asked him that the whistleblower does not claim ownership, but only had a contract with the municipality.

"I didn't tell him, the state told him! I have taken the police there. I took the prosecutor's office, the experts went and said that what he did is on my property, that's all!" continued Satko, while journalists asked him how he made the natural monument "Canyons of Osum" private property?!

"My brother, with a natural monument that belongs to the owner, let them solve it, let those who gave me the property give me the money," he says, as he then hangs up the phone.

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

Fiks Fare went to the Municipality of Skrapar where he talked with the lawyer of this institution Rudina Llango. She affirmed that they gave the whistleblower Andon Lushaj permission to help tourists, because it is a visited place. We ask him how the area, water, mud and shingle became private property, he tells us that some documents were made and that a person claims ownership in that place. However, he specified that the land of Lušaj was Zallishte and "it was state property".

"The Satko family received a piece of property with property restitution, but it says 'forest' and not shingle or sand," says the judge, adding that it is up to other bodies to clarify whether the maps were made incorrectly or not.

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

After this interview, the journalists went to the Land Registry of Skrapar. But nobody was in the offices. We communicated by text with the current head, Florian Meno, but he said that contact with the individual is not allowed.

Fiction would ask how the shingle, sludge and water turned out to be private property! Which manager signed the ownership certificates, which engineer made the maps or which jurist interpreted the decision on the Return of Properties? To date, no response! However, Fiksi has secured the full title of this property; from initial registration and changes over the years. In all the certificates, the property turns out to be "forest". But on the ground there is shale, mud and water! These certificates were signed by former managers of this cadastre, who are cousins ??and relatives of the people who first benefited from that property. At that time, in 2010 or 2012, some maps were made. But, in 2020, the property in question has been halved, being named S1 and S2. Part S1 is owned by Mr. Aries Satko. But this property, although it is in the upper part, there is also a separate part that goes to the middle of the river. Precisely, this particular part also affects the natural monument!

Fix Price/ Osum's canyons in Skrapar, the owner comes out!

However, the Cadastre has taken some questionable positions in correspondence with the judicial bodies. Initially, he admits that the zallish part affects the property of Mr. Aries Satko. But, later he replied that this part has already become a state. All these actions were done in 2022! Meanwhile, Fiksi also tried to talk to the Protected Areas in Skrapar, but no one agreed to give explanations.
However, the law numbered 8743, of 2001, on "State immovable properties" defines that "They belong to the state and are part of the public immovable properties a) coastline to access land, territorial waters and river banks, of streams and other water courses..."./ tch