The Administrative Court of Appeal postponed until October 22 the decision on the lawsuit filed by the residents of Zall-Gjoçaj against the projects of two hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) on the Flim and Uraka rivers. For five years, the residents have been demanding the cancellation of the permits for the “Sekë” and “Zajs” HPPs, which lie in a protected area.
The residents, their lawyer Franc Terihati, and representatives of the company "Seka Hydropower" were present for today's session. But it was postponed for procedural reasons, as the representative of the Ministry of Environment was not equipped with the necessary authorization after the separation of the ministry from the Ministry of Tourism in the new governing structure.
"In the circumstances where the representative was not authorized, the session was postponed so that the decision to proceed with the procedure could be notified to the Ministry of Environment, which is considered to have been absent," the residents' lawyer, Terihati, explained to Citizens.al.
A five-year legal battle
The appeal lawsuit challenges a 2020 decision, in which the Court of First Instance dismissed residents' requests to stop construction in the "Lurë-Mali i Dejës" National Park.
Meanwhile, the local community had opposed the projects with protests since 2018.
The current case requires the invalidity of the environmental declaration, the construction permit, the water use permit, as well as the repeal of the order of the former Ministry of Tourism and Environment that reduced the forest fund of the area by approximately 6180 m.2 as well as the letters from the AKZM that gave the green light to the development of the projects.
The central argument of the residents of Zall-Gjoçaj is that according to Law No. 81/2017 on Protected Areas, the construction of such plants is not allowed in areas of category "II" of the protection level.
Therefore, as defendants, in addition to the company "Seka Hydropower", there are also institutions such as: the Ministry of Environment, the National Environmental Agency, the Mat Water Basin Council, the National Territorial Council, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, and the Mat Municipality.
In 2018, Zall-Gjoçaj merged with Lura to form one of the largest national parks in Albania. But in January 2022, the government revised the borders and removed from this park the area where the Zajs hydroelectric dam has already been built.
This legal change, made in the midst of a legal conflict, was seen by residents as an attempt to legitimize the violation. Earlier, in February 2020, the residents of Mati had requested the relocation of the hydropower plants outside the protected area and filed a second lawsuit for this.
Chronology of the legal proceedings:
- November 2019 – The Administrative Court of First Instance rejected the request to stop the works.
- June 2020 – The Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuit to ban the HPPs.
- January 2021 – The court annulled the license granted by the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERE) for the “Zajs” HPP within the Zall-Gjoçaj National Park.
- January 2021 – The court dismissed the lawsuit against the institutions that issued the permits.
- June 2021 – Residents protested in front of the Administrative Court of Appeal demanding that it consider their appeal.
- November 2021 – The appeal upholds the decision to cancel the ERE license of the "Zajs" HPP.
- February 2022 – ERE implements the decision and revokes the license of the "Zajs" HPP.
- November 2022 – The Supreme Court finally confirms the revocation of the license of the company "Seka Hydropower" for one of the HPPs.
Pending a final decision, which the residents of the Zall-Gjoçaj area hope for on October 22, their case is seen as another test for Albanian justice regarding environmental issues.
Also Read:
- After four years, the Court of Appeal decided to review the Zall - Gjoçaj case
- "Start the investigations", the residents of Zall Gjoçaj asked the Prosecutor's Office to examine the issue of hydropower plants
- The Constitutional Court legitimizes the amendments to the law on "Protected Areas"
- "Protected Areas, an Albanian tragedy"
- IUCN urges Albania to review the law on Protected Areas
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).
