{"id":17825,"date":"2021-07-21T18:24:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T16:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=17825"},"modified":"2021-07-21T18:47:23","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T16:47:23","slug":"high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court suspends construction of hydropower plants in Valbona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The High Court has accepted the plea of a group of locals to suspend the construction of at least two hydropower plants in Valbona.<\/p>\n<p>Locals from 27 villages in Tropoja, as well as several environmental organizations, firmly object to the construction of two hydropower plants, namely in Dragobia and Cerem by the concessionary firm Dragobia Energy.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court\u2019s ruling to temporarily halt construction comes after a lawsuit deposited at the Administrative Court in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court is now back to its functions after a long hiatus caused by the vetting process which saw the discharge of dozens of judges from the justice system.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the ruling, there will be no construction work until a final verdict on the dispute.<\/p>\n<p>In 2002, it was the Democratic Party that began signing concessionary contracts for putting to use Albania\u2019s hydro energetic potential. As of today, the country has signed over 250 concessionary deals.<\/p>\n<p>At least 60 of them, turn out to have been planned and licensed to be built in designated protected areas.<\/p>\n<p>The River of Valbona, sourcing right on the border with Montenegro, apart from being a part of the National Park of Valbona, is also widely known for its crystal clean water.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/albania\/2021\/06\/21\/6-must-see-destinations-in-the-national-park-of-valbona\/\">6 must-see destinations in the National Park of Valbona<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/albania\/2021\/05\/07\/vjosa-national-park-now-leonardo-dicaprio-reiterates-appeal-to-protect-area-from-dams\/\">\u201cVjosa National Park Now\u201d, Leonardo DiCaprio reiterates appeal to protect area from dams<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The High Court has accepted the plea of a group of locals to suspend the construction of at least two hydropower plants in Valbona. Locals from 27 villages in Tropoja, as well as several environmental organizations, firmly object to the construction of two hydropower plants, namely in Dragobia and Cerem by the concessionary firm Dragobia [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>High Court suspends construction of hydropower plants in Valbona - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High Court suspends construction of hydropower plants in Valbona - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The High Court has accepted the plea of a group of locals to suspend the construction of at least two hydropower plants in Valbona. Locals from 27 villages in Tropoja, as well as several environmental organizations, firmly object to the construction of two hydropower plants, namely in Dragobia and Cerem by the concessionary firm Dragobia [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-21T16:24:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-21T16:47:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/212653018_948150329306956_8014550716159294495_n-1068x1068-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1068\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"601\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Euronews Albania\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40904b56ee024949b80be8199e47e27d\"},\"headline\":\"High Court suspends construction of hydropower plants in Valbona\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-21T16:24:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-21T16:47:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/212653018_948150329306956_8014550716159294495_n-1068x1068-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kryesoret\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Albania\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/high-court-suspends-construction-of-hydropower-plants-in-valbona\/\",\"name\":\"High Court suspends construction of hydropower plants in Valbona - 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