Floods/ Bozdo: The government arrogantly rejected our request for compensation for farmers

2026-01-12 12:12:00, Politikë CNA

Floods/ Bozdo: The government arrogantly rejected our request for compensation

DP MP Enno Bozdo has leveled accusations against the government for its management of the floods in our country due to bad weather last week.

Bozdo pointed out that the government rejected the official request of the DP for full compensation for farmers. According to the MP, the floods would be manageable if local and central links were completed.

"The government arrogantly rejected our official request for full compensation for farmers, but in the last case we are dealing with manageable flooding if the local and central links were fulfilled," said Bozdo.

Bozdo's statement

Hundreds of hectares of land were flooded yesterday in Kuçovë, especially in Kozare, Salc-Kozare and Ferras. The flooding occurred in the early hours of yesterday morning and was the result of the opening of the discharge gates of the Banja hydroelectric power plant without any warning.

The residents of Kuçova, and in particular of Kozare, Salc-Kozare and Ferras, have suddenly and unexpectedly found themselves at the mercy of fate, under the total flood caused by the waters of Devoll and those who immediately opened the discharge gates.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of hectares of land have been flooded. Hundreds of families and farmers have suffered incalculable damage from this disaster, not so much natural, but caused by mismanagement. And not only by the entity operating on the Devoll River, but above all by the local government, which should have anticipated this situation and notified residents in time about the flood caused by man and not by weather conditions.

This procedure is required by law and the law has been completely violated.

Discharge management is clearly defined in the dam regulations and of course, if the procedure had been followed rigorously, partial discharges would have begun days ago, because it was very clear that the weather forecast indicated heavy rainfall throughout the past week.

Furthermore, the local government, specifically the Municipality of Kuçovë, should have notified its residents of the opening of the discharge gates, so that they could take measures to minimize the damage. But this was not done either.

This shows total incompetence and negligence on the part of the Kuçova Municipality, and those responsible must be held accountable before the law.

The damage caused is very extensive. At the moment, there is no concrete help on the ground, except for promises of support from government representatives.

Two months ago, the same flood story happened to Dimal, Kuçova and Berat. The government arrogantly rejected our request for full compensation for families and farmers.

But in this case, we are dealing with a completely manageable flood. If the central and local government links were functioning. So this is a flood caused by man and not by God.

The Democratic Party has officially requested the declaration of a state of natural disaster. Therefore, I am repeating this call.

For the families and farmers of Kuçova and Dimal, as well as for every Albanian family, farmer, and citizen affected in any way by this flood, we once again demand full 100% compensation for the damage caused.

In this specific case, we are preparing a lawsuit against the perpetrators of this flood, which was foreseeable and could have been minimized. The perpetrators will face the law./ CNA