DENUNCIATION: How the Shušicë River is being destroyed to supply resorts in Himare

2024-02-28 10:11:00, Politikë CNA

DENUNCIATION: How the Shušicë River is being destroyed to supply

Residents in protest

In a statement to the media from the blue headquarters, MP Ina Zhupa accused the government that with the new law on protected areas, the government is massacring national parks.

Zhupa underlined that with the new law, the Shushicë River is also in danger of being destroyed.

According to her, it is about a project where 140 liters of water per second is diverted from the river and its normal flow and is used for the Himara water supply, which risks completely drying up its upper part during the summer, which is used by residents for land irrigation and cattle.

"This diversion is done to supply water to strategic investments and resorts in Himarë, while affecting the lives of the residents of 30 villages, but also the inviolability that Vjosa should have with its branches as a National Park", said Zhupa.

She emphasizes that the Democratic Party supports the protest of the residents of the area.

Full statement:

For several days, the residents of the 30 villages where the Shusicë river passes and environmental activists and experts have been protesting for the non-diversion and non-damaging of the river. The Shushica River is one of the main branches of the Vjosa River, the latter declared a National Park in March 2023. One year after the decision by the government, Shushica faces the possibility of being removed from its protected status.

Now with the changes in the "Protected Areas" law, where they no longer have practically any protection, the destruction of every national park becomes even more feasible. It is about a project where 140 liters of water per second is diverted from the river and its normal flow and is used for the Himara aqueduct, which risks completely drying up its upper part during the summer, which is used by residents for irrigation of lands, for cattle, etc. .

This diversion is done to supply water to strategic investments and resorts in Himarë, while affecting the lives of the residents of 30 villages, but also the inviolability that Vjosa and its tributaries should have as a National Park.

Residents, activists, environmental experts have been protesting for days against the Himara water supply project, which risks damaging the ecosystem.

The Democratic Party supports the just protest of residents and environmental activists. This project, the first to launch the projects made before the law that destroys the protected areas was passed, brings a double harm. It harms the residents and their daily lives connected to the Shushica River and damages the branch of the Vjosa National Park by destroying its protection and ecosystem and setting a precedent for further destruction of this river.

With this, every Albanian can understand how useless the propaganda was with the declaration of Vjosa National Park, when a year later they would remove the protection of all National Parks. This first act in the service of the resorts and not the residents and the protection of the Vjosa National Park, clearly shows what will be the fate of all the protected areas if they are not stopped in this environmental massacre./ CNA