Valbona, Nov 01 (Tirana Echo) – Two concerts organized in protest of the latest hydro power plants planned to be built in the northern alpine mountains of Albania and against the controversial bill of waste import into the country, while attended by hundreds of artist, intellectuals and civil society activists, have been largely boycotted and ‘muted’ by the Albanian media establishment, amid concerns of media freedom violations.
Many activists, intellectuals and artists from Albania, Kosovo and other European countries gathered in the Alpine Valley of Valbona on Saturday under the “Don’t Touch Valbona” slogan to listen to a free concert staged by renowned Albanian singers Eda Zari and Elina Duni in protest of the latest plans to build several hydro power plants in the Eco-friendly national park.
Environmentalist claim that the project to build several hydro power projects in the area will take away around 80% of the water of the famous Valbona River which is known for its natural cascades, waterfalls and pure blue waters, into underground pipes.
Civil society activists have called such plans a national ecological catastrophe which would spoil one of the purest natural wild touristic areas of Albania where tens of thousands of foreign tourists visit each year.
The next day, the same concert was staged in Tirana to protest against the waste importing bill which has currently been refused to be decreed by Albania’s President Bujar Nishani, and sent back to Parliament for reconsideration.
Both popular and peaceful protests were largely boycotted and ‘muted’ by the mainstream media establishment of Albania, in an unusual ‘silence’ by the country’s conventional and outspoken media outlets, causing concerns among activists that political pressure has been exercised against media owners to block
Civil Society activists and environmentalists have vowed that despite the conventional media boycott, they will continue their battle to cancel all Valbona hydro power projects and to block the waste import bill in parliament, which the current governing majority of prime Minister Edi Rama will struggle to find the necessary votes.
Meanwhile, Ivana Dervishi of BIRN’s Reporter.al has reported that despite the protests the excavators and workers are continuing their plan to build the hydro power plants to be completed in September 2018, which any bystanders are shown the official road poster with PM Edi Rama’s signature and are told to move away from the area.
Residents of the Valbona Valley sounded the alarm last September and have asked the Government to stop what they call a ‘natural catastrophe’ for the Valbona river which will damage the Albanian Alps’ ecosystem and touristic potential.
Bjeshkët e Namuna or Alpet Shqiptare, also known as the Albanian Alps and the Accursed Mountains, is a mountain range on the western Balkan peninsula, extending from northern Albania to Kosovo and eastern Montenegro. Its peak in Albania, Maja Jezercë at 2,694 m (8,839 ft), is the highest point of the Dinaric Alps, and the 7th highest peak in Albania.
The natural area is home to several mammal species that have long been extinct in other European regions such as the Eurasian brown bear, grey wolf, red fox, European wildcat, as well as growing number of marble trout and more than 140 species of butterflies.
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