Author: Gëzim Hilaj
Three years ago, Romana Vllahutin, the former head of the EU delegation in Tirana, from the village of Shishtavec in Kukës, made a call against the construction of hydropower plants. She asked the residents of the area not to move from this place, where it has been invested with EU funds for the reconstruction of the road that connects the area with Kosovo and North Macedonia, where touristic and economic potential it is very high and there are many natural beauties.
Today, the reality is quite different. So far in Gryka e Vanave, in the span of four years (2012-2016), on the river bed Luma ten hydropower plants have been built, turning the river bed into a literal desert, while five more hydropower plants have been designed.
Part of the Korab-Koritnik Nature Park, the river Luma, from a river with abundant flow, has turned into a stream without water, as a result of the construction of these hydropower investments. The hydropower plants are of the "BOT" type, which work as one, give and take from each other, making the maximum use of water and turning the riverbed during the period of use into a desert, dry and lifeless.
The construction of the hydropower plants "Bele 1", "Topojan 1", "Orgjost i Ri", "Bele 2" and "Topojan 2" was approved by the Ministry of Energy in November 2008. These HPPs were built by the concession companies "Euron Energy", "Energal sh.pk" and "Alb-Energy sh.pk".
While the hydropower plants "Borje", "Oreshkë", "Cernaleva 1" and "Cernaleva 2" were built by the company "HidroAlbania Energji". The last Pobregu hydropower plant was built by the concession company "Energy Plus sh.pk".
Residents of the areas where the branches of the river pass Luma, have been opposing the construction of hydropower plants for years. In the villages of Topojan and Borje, the residents are worried about the damage to the river, but they seem resigned and do not want to comment further on the construction of HPPs.
"Now is not the time to talk about hydropower plants. We protested in 2018 in Tirana against the construction of hydropower plants. We have nothing to do now. We can't get hold of the power", - says a resident of Topojan who prefers to be anonymous.
The construction permits, granted on February 2, 2018 by the Territorial Development Agency for the five new hydropower plants: "Zaje", "Tujan", "Xhaferraj", "Kollovoz" and "Novosejë", within the Korab-Koritnik Nature Park, have encountered the repeated opposition of the residents of the area. On the eve of the election campaign of April 25, 2021, in an open meeting with the residents, the mayor of Kukes Municipality, Safet Gjici, promised them that these HPPs would not be built.
"A few days ago, Safet Gjici was here in a meeting with the residents. He told us that the new hydropower plants will not be built, even though the permission has been given." - says the resident of Topojan, as he adds that no one has consulted with them about the hydropower plants.
"No one is asking about the hydropower plants that are ba. We have not provided any signature for this.
But the state is building twenty more hydropower plants and they won't know about us".
There is a lack of investment in infrastructure, but not in hydropower plants
Throughout the journey towards the village of Borje, part of Shishtavec, the road that passes over the Borje hydropower plant has not been maintained. The construction of the hydroelectric power plant here has not affected the arrangement of the road from Kukësi to Borje. The inhabitants of this village see and feel the great contrast between the considerable investment for the hydropower plant and the state of the infrastructure.
Krenar Bilali, a resident of Borje, says that the construction of hydropower plants has not improved the livelihood of the residents of the area. The problems continue to be the same as before their construction.
"The vast majority of residents have fled. They went to Germany and European countries.
The hydropower plant was built in Borje and the residents between the four mountains do not have drinking water. We also have problems with electricity. Not even on the Borje road, which is in miserable conditions, have they given up." – says Bilal.
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The National Agency of Protected Areas for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been against the construction of the "Oreshka" hydropower plant. In the response to the request for information, the Agency considers this area "with high values for the management of habitats and species; and the development of such an activity would have a very negative impact on the environment. In the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), it is stated that, referring to the law "On Protected Areas", the third degree of protection is applied to this area and the change of the natural state of water reserves, sources, lakes and wetland systems is prohibited and as investments of this nature are not allowed.
Olsi Nika, director of EcoAlbania-s, emphasizes that the hydropower plants built on the river Luma are problematic, because concession companies do not implement the contract to release a quantity of water into the river for what is called ecological flow, as well as for causing the lack of biological corridors.
"The first problem is the 80% fragmentation of the Luma River. With this fragmentation, practically as an ecosystem, it has lost its functionality and natural integrity, because it has lost what is called "longitudinal connection". The river is no longer a river, but a cascade of hydropower, regulated. Concession companies do not implement the contract to release a quantity of water into the river, which is called ecological flow. The second problem is with biological corridors. Biological corridors are located in hydroelectric dams, but they are not always in the right amount of water to allow fish and other creatures to pass through. Nika emphasizes.
He also dwells on the economic effectiveness of these investments.
"To build all those HPPs for a small amount of energy, only 20 MegaWats, which does not help much in powering the power stations, and to destroy the entire river for only 20 MegaWats of electricity, is negligible in quantity. A whole river is destroyed for so little energy gain", - says Olsi Nika.
The river, ecologically dead
Enlightenment Luma there is a variety of 26 fish, ranging from Western Balkan brook trout, fish of the carp family to catfish. The introduction of the entire flow of water into the pipes has meant that today this fauna no longer exists.
Biologist Arben Palushi has made expeditions in the river from time to time and has confirmed the presence of fish, fish that are now gone. Despite the efforts to build survival pits, Palushi together with other experts failed to save the endemic creatures of this river.
"In the upper part, 1000-1500 meters, Luma was inhabited by the trout of the streams of the Western Balkans. Now that the hydropower plants have been built and the water is introduced from pipe to pipe, from 22-26 species of fish, according to the expeditions we have done, everything is sterile, because the water passes from pipe to pipe", – says the biologist Palushi.
The concession companies, in addition to putting water into the pipes, violate the points of the contract, throwing chlorine into the river to clean the pipes that get encrusted with single-celled algae.
"Algae, coating the pipe, reduce the speed of movement, because the water rubs against them and creates turbulence. This affects the amount of energy that is produced. For this reason, they wash the pipes with chlorine, but chlorine destroys life. The companies have not only killed the fish, but they have not even deigned to remove the dead fish. says Palushi.
The National Inspectorate of Territory Protection is the authority responsible for inspections at these hydropower plants. Only after successive requests from ACQJ for information on the state of these investments and their impact on the river's ecosystem Luma addressed to IKMT and the Regional Directorate of IKMT, Kuka, the latter started the necessary inspections against these concessionaires, responding to the request for information in a partial manner.
According to this institution, the necessary inspections along the river have been carried out Luma (Gryka e Vanave), where it turned out that concessionaire companies that have built HPPs on the riverbed were operating, two of which do not meet the conditions of the Environmental Permit, but without determining to what extent the other companies met the conditions of the permit.
IKMT, Kukës explained that the HPPs "Orgjosti" and "Pobregu" had an ecological flow, through which a certain amount of flowing water, according to the stipulations in the concession contract, passed unused and free in the natural bed of the river. thus ensuring the preservation of the ecological chain. Meanwhile, HPPs "Topojan", "Bele" and "Orgjost 1" used 100% of the water of the river cascade, thus destroying the system and leaving the river bed, in the segment where these works are, dry and lifeless. . Despite this assertion by IKMT, it was not made available what will happen to these concessionaires who have caused irreparable damage to the ecological system of the river stream. Despite assertions that some of the investments have met contractual forecasts and environmental obligations, a visit to the mouth of the river stream, in that of White Drinit, near the town of Kukës, it shows a completely different landscape: a desolate river bed, with stones that have not seen running water over them for years, even during the winter season.
The water that once flowed in the river Luma, one of the largest in the area, now runs through the pipes to produce electricity, the lack of which the residents of the area still often suffer.
The life of the inhabitants, who live along this river, has not changed. Their future does not look good, while the life of the creatures of this ecosystem belongs to the past!
