Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Minister of Environment, Mirela Kumbaro, avoided using the term "incinerator" as much as possible during the public presentation of the Waste Management Strategy 2025-2030, published this Thursday morning at a public event.
The head of government stated that the new Strategy aims to fulfill Albania's obligations within the framework of negotiations with the European Union.
He and his minister mentioned the legal measures they are expected to take, as well as the need for new investments to close illegal landfills, as well as the creation of proper structures for the storage and treatment of waste in different areas of the country.
However, neither Rama nor his subordinate, Kumbaro, ever mentioned the incineration, a process that has cost Albanians hundreds of millions of euros so far and which resulted in a failed and corrupt project.
In 2013-2014, Prime Minister Rama, who had just assumed political power, presented a similar Strategy for Waste Management. Even then, he and his government subordinates promised that the “Renaissance” project would pave Albania’s path towards the European Union.
The initial strategy of the Rama government relied heavily on the construction of regional incinerators, which would carry out the incineration and conversion into electricity.
The incinerator project was strongly opposed by environmental experts, who saw it as an outdated initiative and not at all suitable for Albania. Meanwhile, the right-wing opposition accused the government of ending the incinerator project in a corruption scandal.
Time proved both sides of the criticism of Rama's incinerator initiative right.
From 2014 to 2017, the government approved three concession contracts for the construction of landfills and incinerators in Elbasan, Fier, and Tirana. Their concessional cost was estimated at a total of around 170 million euros, while the real cost of the service was much higher.
Now, the incinerator scenario has proven to be a complete failure, while their non-functioning has faced the country with very acute environmental and health challenges.
The Elbasan landfill and incinerator project, built first in line, had a concession cost of 22 million euros. The concession contract was handed over to the company “Albtek Energy”, without experience, without funds and without the necessary expertise, formally led by Stela Gugallja.
A decade after the concession contract, there is a waste incineration plant (incinerator) in the Elbasan landfill, only a carbine and completely non-functional.
Subsequently, Edi Rama's government signed a concession contract with Klodian Zoto's "Integrated Technology Service" company, for the construction of a landfill and incinerator in Fier, with a concession cost of around 30 million euros.
The Fier incinerator, although built as a building, has not operated for a single day, due to significant technical problems.
In 2017, Edi Rama’s government signed the concession contract for the construction and operation of the Tirana landfill and incinerator, with an initial cost of 128 million euros. The contract was won without competition by “Integrated Energy bv”, which was again controlled by Klodian Zoto and his close associate, Mirel Mërtiri.
In Tirana, the waste incineration plant wasn't even built like a carbine. It's simply a ghost.
After failing with the incinerator project, after fanatically defending these corrupt schemes, Edi Rama has now decided to walk away from "incineration", "forgetting" to mention them publicly.
He stated that for better waste management, in fulfillment of obligations to the European Union, the New Strategy foresees the creation of an agency at the central level, the Waste Management Operator, which will be responsible for the implementation of projects in this field.
According to Rama, the new Operator will contribute to eliminating the fragmentation of the waste management process by local structures. However, he did not say, and of course, he is not expected to say, that waste management in Albania during his government has not been “fragmented” at all.
The incinerators were the prime minister's own idea and the municipalities merely obeyed his order.
Editorial
