The residents of Kurdaria, Klos municipality, had their first court session today at the Administrative Court of First Instance in Tirana, for the ban on the "Doma" hydroelectric power plant, which threatens their water sources.
Since August, they have filed a lawsuit against the Klos Municipal Council, the National Territorial Development Agency (NDA) that depends on the government, and the company "Global Enterprise Group", which has been trying for years to build the hydroelectric power plant.
According to the residents' lawyer, Dorina Prethi, today's hearing was postponed because the other party was absent.
"The AZHT has received the summons, but it has not been returned and the court has no information whether they have received it. When one party is not present, the court is forced to postpone the process, because tomorrow there may be claims of incorrect procedures", Prethi said to Citizens.al.
According to her, the lawsuit seeks the invalidity of decisions 84 and 104 of the Klos Municipal Council, which granted the forestry fund for the start of works to extend the pipelines for the hydroelectric power plant.
"According to the local government law, the Municipal Council is obliged to call residents for consultation in cases when it gives their public property for use or ownership, but in this case no such procedure was carried out," said the lawyer, adding that the lack of consultation was confirmed by an official letter from the Klos Municipality.
The Doma hydroelectric power plant is planned to be built on the Lusa River, which passes between three of the villages: Kurdari, Skënderaj and Kurqelaj. For its construction, it is expected that 4.4 kilometers of road will be opened and the river flow will be channeled into pipes.
The Mati community's battle against hydroelectric power plants
The five villages of the Suç administrative unit: Suç, Kurdari, Kurqelaj, Skënderaj and Kujtim, have been the target of energy works since 2006. At that time, the project to build a hydroelectric power plant on the Lusa River did not materialize.
In 2017-2018, two different companies, "Indrolusa" and "Global Enterprise Group", applied to build hydroelectric power plants in this area.
In 2017, the government granted permission to the company "Idrolusa" for the construction of the "Lusa 1 and Lusa 2" HPPs.
Residents tried to convince institutions that they were against these projects, so in 2020 they turned to the Prime Minister's Office. The official response stated that the government was aware of the problem raised by the residents and that it "supports their interests first and foremost".
But, after the legal deadlines expired and these works were not completed in the village, the company "Idrolusa" returned to the village of Skënderaj in 2022 for a new consultation. They refused to hold the meeting, showing opposition.
The National Environmental Agency told Citizens.al at the time that the community had no concerns about the construction of this hydropower plant.
"At the meeting, the project was presented, the suggestions of the participants were heard, which will be taken into account by the investors during the period of use.", the KTA told Citizens.al.
In parallel, in 2018, the company "Global Enterprise Group" wanted to build the "Doma" hydroelectric power plant on the same river. Therefore, it held a public hearing, in which 19 residents participated.
Documents from the Ministry of Environment and the National Environmental Agency state that they expressed their agreement to the development of the hydropower plant. However, 12 of them have stated in writing that their signature of participation was manipulated as a declaration of agreement.
""We declare that we participated as listeners for the 'Doma' project, but we did not express agreement as it conflicts with vital interests," they said in the statement.
Then, another attempt to hold a community hearing on the development of hydro projects was repeated in 2020, but it was massively rejected by residents and 631 signatures were collected against.
Five years later, the company has managed to get the permit through a still-unexplained public consultation process, for which residents say they were not consulted. Residents have once again organized protests, not allowing any heavy equipment to enter the field. And recently, they have even started legal proceedings.
Lawyer Dorina Prethi expresses confidence that the process will be concluded soon.
""I anticipate two or three sessions, no more.", she said, while the second session will be held on October 16.
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Erisa Kryeziu has completed higher studies in Journalism and Communication and Master of Science in Public Relations at the University of Tirana. She has been a journalist and project manager at Citizens.al for five years, where she reports on social issues and human rights, especially on issues of rights at work, in education, gender equality, marginalized groups, people with disabilities such as and for environmental issues. At the same time, she works as a project coordinator with a focus on youth and media education. User of new reporting techniques such as "Mobile Journalism" and citizen engagement tools in reporting (ECR-Engage Citizens Journalism).
