Pollution continues to pose a risk for the environment and the inhabitants of the city of Elbasan.
According to observations made by the experts, pollution is 2 to 3 times above the average allowance during night-time, while in the suburbs it goes up to seven times higher.
The metallurgical plant in Elbasan is no longer in function, but factories still continue their activities emitting high levels of pollutions, enough to create a dangerous environment for the citizens, who have been continuously denouncing the problem but to no avail.
As night falls in the city, when human activities also drop, pollution levels go up in Elbasan. Citizens and experts accuse the industrial subjects operating at the former metallurgical plant of deactivating the air filters of the machines because smog cannot be detected.
“Dirt coming from all sides, they don’t stop 24/7, especially in the night-time because the air is very polluted, they release the machines and don’t put the filters. We’ve raised our voice but nobody cares, no one has listened to us, as of today no one”, said a citizen.
The head of the environmentalist club in Elbasan Ahmet Mehmeti said for Euronews Albania said that the high level of pollution measured in the city has now become “something normal”.
“Twice or triple the average level of pollution has become something normal in Elbasan. In the middle of the night, when there is no traffic and no burning of organic material, the norm reaches two to three times above average. Who is responsible for that apart from the industry? In the suburbs, it’s even worse. Pollution there goes up to seven times more than the allowed standard. We have sent these data to the municipality, but the problem here is that the laws are not enforced”.
Elbasan is the epicenter of pollution in the country and has been so for several decades, meanwhile the Regional Environment Agency (ARM) has been relocated to Berat.
“Taking Elbasan’s agency and relocating it to Berat? What is the point in that? Did they even consult with interest groups and civil society for that? Elbasan is a red-flag area, and you take the agency to another city, where there is nothing to observe? How will they monitor all these industrial objects? How will they punish them for this problem and not complying with the law”, said Mehmeti.
In 2017, the Municipal Council of Elbasan announced an environmental emergency where the former metallurgical plant is located, however, continuous observation by independent institutions shows that the quality of air is nowhere near the norms allowed.
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