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Tirana incinerator on the verge of official failure, Sharra landfill no longer has room

2025-06-19 07:48:00, Denoncim CNA

Tirana incinerator on the verge of official failure, Sharra landfill no longer

The investigative show Plug brought new facts about the incinerator and urban waste affair in our country. Although more than 190 million euros have been paid so far for the construction of incinerators in Tirana, Elbasan and Fier, none of them have been built today, or are out of order and require millions of additional euros to be put into operation. The program brought new facts that show that, due to the incinerator affair, municipalities in Tirana, Durrës, Fier and Vlora have increased taxes and fees, weighing on the pockets of citizens.

At least 210 million euros have been paid so far from citizens' taxes for the construction of three incinerators - Tirana, Elbasan and Fier - as well as for the Sherishta landfill in Vlora. But, while millions of euros have been paid by citizens, today none of these works are in operation. The investigative show Plug revealed new facts that show that the country will soon face environmental emergencies in the aforementioned areas. A document from the Seized Assets Agency shows that there is no longer room for the disposal of urban waste in the Sharra landfill, while for the first time municipalities are being asked to find alternative solutions for their management. Although 130 million euros have been paid so far for the Tirana incinerator, this work seems to never be built.

Not only that, but balance sheet data shows that the seized incinerator company has lost more than 47 million euros through prepayments or debts, which it seems will never be returned.

Exclusively for Plug, the administrator of the Elbasan incinerator admitted that this project is not working. According to Leli Kaja, an additional 4 million euros are needed to put the Elbasan incinerator into operation, which will apparently be generated by increasing the price for depositing waste from the region's municipalities in the landfill.

The Fier incinerator is not functional either and it seems that it will never be put into operation, since the municipalities that tried to take it over have given up on their initiative. In Vlora, more than 22 million euros have been invested in the Sherishta landfill, but its commissioning has been delayed for at least three years, causing massive pollution due to the burning of garbage in the landfill located in the “24 Maji” neighborhood.

The costs of urban waste have directly weighed on taxpayers' pockets. Plug published data showing that, due to the delivery of urban waste, municipalities have been forced to increase cleaning fees, extorting more money from citizens' taxes. The most flagrant case is in Durrës, where the municipality pays 10 million euros per year - or about 1/3 of the budget - for waste management, of which 2.5 million euros are taken directly from the state budget, while the rest is generated by increasing cleaning fees to citizens./ Syri Tv