Albania
Energy Needs Clash With Tourism
Vlora - The building of a thermal power plant
in Vlora could reduce Albania's electricity
deficit, but it would also damage one of the country's
most beautiful tourist destinations. The local
population is fighting to have the factory built
elsewhere. The 3.2 million inhabitants of Albania
have gotten used to daily power cuts. At the
moment, the country can only meet half its electricity
needs. Roughly 90 percent of these are
covered by hydropower, and this generation is
dependent on weather conditions.
Power consumption has increased dramatically
over the past two decades. Formerly a state
socialist country, Albania has established a democratic
system and is moving to liberalise the economy.
In order to increase domestic power production,
the Albanian Power Corporation (KESH)
-- in cooperation with the World Bank, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) and the European Investment
Bank (EIB) -- plans to construct an oil-fuelled
thermal power plant in Vlora, about 100km south
of Tirana.
Not a tourist attraction
Situated off the Adriatic coast in south-western
Albania, Vlora is one of the most popular tourist
destinations in the country. Beautiful beaches and
lagoons, as well as ancient and medieval monuments
make it an appealing travel destination.
Vlora is also famous for its biodiversity and its
wine, olive oil and fish. "The Vlora power plant
will contribute to an increase in Albania's electricity
production, diversify domestic generation
and reduce excessive dependence on electricity
imports," says Iftikhar Khalil, World Bank manager
for the project.
The plant is expected to have a production
capacity of 97 megawatts. The construction costs
are estimated around 110 million euro. To cover
the expenses, KESH will take a 40 million euro
loan from ERBD. The World Bank and the EIB
will also cover a part of the expenses - as present
plans go. Under the project, the thermal plant will
run on fuel brought through the oil and gas terminal
La Petrolifera Italo-Rumena and the projected
Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil
Corporation (AMBO) pipeline. The 870 km
Burgas-Vlora oil duct is still in the planning stage.
When completed, it would carry around 35 million
tonnes of crude oil yearly, brought from Russia
and the Caspian Sea.
Inhabitants of Vlora protest
While the international financial institutions and
the Albanian authorities speak of the benefits of the
thermal plant, the inhabitants of Vlora have been
protesting for the past three years against the plant.
plant should provide a remedy to the increasingly
acute energy situation in Albania, there are indications
that the fulfilment of Albania's energy demand
features only as secondary to the export of electricity
to the European energy market, particularly the
Italian market," Aleksander Mita, representative of
the Alliance for the Protection of Vlora Gulf said in a
report prepared for the CEE Bankwatch Network, an
independent group monitoring loans in the region.
As a condition for the granting of loans by the
international financial institutions, Italian electricity
company ENEL is assisting KESH to manage
Albania's power production and distribution system.
Still, the main concern of the inhabitants of Vlora is
not where the energy will go; it is the chosen location
of the plant. "Albania needs a lot of energy, and we
are not opposed even to oil-produced energy, but we
are opposed to the site - the beach resort and protected
area chosen," Aleksander Mita told IPS. The plant
would be part of an industrial park to be created in
the region. The industrial park is projected to cover a
560 hectare area, close to several protected lagoons.
Given that the entire city area of Vlora is 1120 hectares,
and that the industrial zone will be located 1.5
km from the centre within a residential area, town
people are worried about the negative impact on
social life and on the tourism potential.
According to the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) done at the request of the World
Bank, the building of a thermal plant in Vlora will
entail a series of negative consequences: polluting
emissions in the air (sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides,
carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and trace metals), oil spills, noise, water intakes and temperature
changes that will alter the ecosystem of the
lagoon waters.
The World Bank insists that measures will be
taken to limit the damage, and to adhere to European
Union level environmental standards. But in spite of
efforts by the international financial institutions to
reassure them, the inhabitants of Vlora remain suspicious
about the plant. Local NGOs have been organising
numerous public protests. They have also
appealed to the Aarhus Convention Compliance
Committee, whose provisional report in March
2007 declared the Albanian government noncompliant
with several articles of the Aarhus
Convention (on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-making and Access to
Justice in Environmental Matters).
The NGOs have also been complaining to the
World Bank, ERDB and EIB, and have filed criminal
charges against the minister for energy and
transport for abusing the legislation on protected
areas. A World Bank inspection panel visited
Vlora Jun. 26-27 to evaluate the risks associated
with the building of the thermal plant there. The
executive board of the Bank is expected to take a
final decision within a month whether it will keep
up with its plans to have the thermal plant built in
Vlora.