Campaigners say Power Plants will Wreck 'Albania's Alps'

Environmental activists and local residents are upping their campaign to stop the building of six hydropower plants on the Valbona river, arguing that they will destroy tourism in what some call the "Albanian Alps".

Environmentalists and locals protested in Tirana and Tropoja on Monday against the plans. There was even a protest in New York, where the Prime Minister, Edi Rama, held a meeting with members of the Albanian diaspora in America.

The Valbona river in the Tropoja area of northern Albania is a pristine river, running from Prokletije near the border with Montenegro through the valley bearing its name.

The Valbona valley is the most important touristic point in the area and was listed as a national park in 1996.

But this did not stop the government from granting three concessionary contracts from 2009 to 2013 for the construction of six hydropower plants on the river.

Now that work is about to begin on building the first power plant, locals and environmentalists have started to feel alarmed about the environmental consequences.

Lavdosh Feruni, a well-known environmental activist, told BIRN that if the plants are built as planned, tourism in the "Alps" will be destroyed.

"This is going to cause huge economic damage not only to locals who live off tourism but also to Albania itself, which claims to see tourism as a strategic sector of national development," Feruni said.

The government is in a dilemma about the issue. Official sources from the Ministry of Energy told BIRN that the licenses for the hydropower plants were offered under the former centre-right government of Sali Berisha.

"If the Ministry of Energy terminates these contracts, it could result in financial damage since the licensed companies...