Catherine Amick
article published by "Il Manifesto"
A corner of paradise. So beautiful as to deserve the nickname "Queen of Albania." And 'the bay of Vlora, on the southeast coast of the Adriatic, a natural habitat for many species of fish and coral. Too bad that in 2004, Tirana has decided to cancel this natural attraction to make way for a mega industrial park of 120 million euro. A flow of cement and steel will clear a pine forest declared National Park a stone's throw from the beach and lagoon Narta, in theory protected the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. What has been emphatically called the biggest investment in Albania's history involves the construction of an industrial park consisting of seven plants including a terminal for the storage and transmission of oil, a refinery and a power plant for conversion conversion gas. World Bank, European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have now expressed interest in financing the project, regardless of environmental impact. Luck had it that in 2005 the Albanian civil society has set up a coalition, the Alliance for the protection of the Gulf of Vlora, to say no to yet another mess of a piece of the Mediterranean coast. First, activists have used against the government, accused of violating the Aarhus Convention on access to environmental information. Appeal won last March. The ad hoc international committee created under the Treaty of Albania felt guilty for not having adequately informed local people about the possible consequences of the project, so as to avoid, therefore, that take place in a shared decision-making processes. Over the last two years, the coalition has also tried several times with un'interlocuzione multiletarali international agencies willing to fund the project. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has chosen infischiarsene the demands of civil society and has already paid the first tranche of $ 37 million. The more collaborative the World Bank, through its independent investigation is taking steps to ascertain whether or not in Vlora will violate environmental and social standards governing the work of the institution until a few months ago led by Paul Wolfowitz and if the environmental impact assessment on which it based its approval of the disbursement of $ 25 million provided by the Bank was made according to the construction canoni.Per now languish, waiting for it to unblock all the funds. But once again not put our hands are stati gli albanesi, protagonisti di una serie di azioni contro la devastazione della loro bellissima baia. Tra campeggi dimostrativi sulla spiaggia di Vlora e manifestazioni di piazza (l'ultima si è tenuta il 9 settembre), la comunità locale sta facendo di tutto per vendere cara la pelle e salvare la sua principale attrattiva naturale. «Siamo pronti alla disobbedienza civile - ha promesso Aleksander Mita, dell'Alleanza -Se il progetto sarà realizzato la spiaggia verrà cancellata, si assisterà all'abbattimento di 30mila pini, importanti siti storici ed archeologici subiranno danni irreparabili e le abbondanti riserve di pesce rischieranno di sparire per sempre». La lotta continua, in attesa che la Banca europea per gli investimenti o the World Bank will strike, withdrawing their funding.
