Pristina declares state of emergency due to waste

2025-02-03 11:46:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Mayor of Pristina, Përparim Rama, has declared a state of emergency regarding waste management in the capital.

In a press conference on Monday, he said that the regional public company "Pastrimi", which is currently the only company engaged in waste collection in Pristina, has not proven to be efficient in this task.

"We will continue to use the state of emergency we have declared to engage private companies to help properly clean the capital," Rama said.

During 2024, the Municipality also declared a state of emergency and temporarily engaged additional private operators to collect waste in the capital.

But, according to Rama, a longer-term commitment was made impossible by opposition assemblymen in the Municipality with the approval of a regulation, which "gave the company "Pastrimi" the exclusive right for this service."

*Photo gallery from the situation created in the capital in March 2023 as a result of the strike of workers of the "Pastrimi" company. Also, during 2024, workers of the "Pastrimi" company had complained and protested before the Municipality, against the engagement of private companies which, according to them, poses a risk of their bankruptcy.

The "Pastrimi" company is a local public enterprise with around 900 employees, which provides waste collection services for several cities in Kosovo, including Pristina.

Radio Free Europe has sent questions to this company's email regarding the latest statement by the mayor of Pristina and is awaiting responses.

The Director of Public Services in Pristina, Bekim Brestovci, also said that the current "worsened" situation has forced them to declare a state of emergency again.

"The "Pastrimi" company, with the logistics it had, was unable to provide citizens with either containers or the proper mechanism for transporting waste," he emphasized.

According to the municipality, a team created by the Directorate of Public Services inspected the terrain and "found an alarming situation, with a high risk of spreading epidemics."

Public enterprises engaged in waste management across Kosovo often face a lack of capacity as a result of the difficulty in collecting debts from citizens.

Workers of these companies have often protested and even held strikes regarding working conditions and low wages./ Rel