Shqipëria Posted on 2025-01-31 10:31:00

Waste Management/Kumbaro: Approximation of the legal framework with the EU. Rehabilitation of the Vjosa is the main goal!

From Edel Strazimiri

Waste Management/Kumbaro: Approximation of the legal framework with the EU.

The Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbaro, presented today to the Albanian Parliament the draft law for which she is the initiator and which aims to approve the loan agreement between the Republic of Albania and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the project "Clean Environment with Renewable Capabilities, Blue Sea", through which a financing of 75 million and 500 thousand euros is granted.

Minister Kumbaro, in her speech, said that the goal of the project is to reduce pollution generated from land sources towards the aquatic environment and that ends up in areas of the southwestern coastal belt, from inhabited areas along the Vjosa River, which then flows into the Adriatic.

The Minister underlined the fact that "the management plan for the Vjosa National Park has now been approved to control and guide all social, economic, and agricultural activities, but also to monitor the evolutions that natural ecosystems undergo."

The Minister stated that "the provision of public services, such as solid waste and sanitation services, is limited in that territory, due to the inconsistent data on monitoring human activity in these housing or municipalities, "also due to the low awareness we have in this sector."

"The new integrated waste management plan 2020-2035 aims to incorporate the principles of the circular economy, so the focus on pollution prevention will include investments in gray and green infrastructure and human capital, as well as changing societal behavior."

"All these interventions will bring equipment to wastewater plants in some municipalities, but we anticipate influencing the economic growth of the region, by increasing employment, tourism, etc. The project will have a positive impact in the long term, because it aims to improve municipal public services through controlled management of solid waste and wastewater," she said.

"Reducing pollution in the Vjosa River is the main goal, whether through the construction of expanded sanitary facilities, the rehabilitation and expansion of canals, the installation of sanitary systems in the area, but also individual systems to include the entire network of villages in the area. If we consider the number of tourists who visit these areas, the number of people who interact there increases 10-fold, from guesthouses, hotels and other accommodation structures. This draft law is valuable, not only for the local population, local government units, but also for having a safe and healthy tourism," concluded Kumbaro.

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