FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Around 1,700 citizens of Lezha signed the so-called "Petition against the stinking factory", which was submitted to the institutions responsible for the environment.
I was first contacted by residents of the "Skënderbej" neighborhood in Lezha in August 2023. Their complaints were addressed to the "INCA" factory, which processes animal waste and, as a result of this activity, pollutes the environment with discharges into water and air.
What I experienced when I tried to visit the factory only convinced me of the scale of the problem: a suffocating odor that spoke louder than all those who tried to deny it.
INCA representatives told me over the phone that “the smell seemed heavy to me,” as smells are “perceptive.” This argument seems to have helped the business continue its activity, as the same argument and the same words were confirmed to me by the head of the Lezha Regional Environmental Agency, Bardhok Frroku.
"There is no equipment to measure odors. There is no laboratory in Albania that measures odors, odors are perceptual ," he said as justification for the KTA's inaction.
A year later, in September 2024, a group of activists undertook a broader initiative to engage the citizens of Lezha, as the bad smell was not just a "gift" to that area, but was spreading beyond the city.
Around 1,700 citizens of Lezha signed the so-called "Petition against the stinking factory", which was submitted to the institutions responsible for the environment.
On October 12, hundreds of citizens marched from the INCA factory to the city center of Lezha with the banner "You took our breath away."
After no response from the company or local authorities, on October 23, activists and citizens of Lezha brought their resistance to the doors of the Ministry of Environment in Tirana. The Ministry promised to look into the problem and propose a solution for all parties involved.
I repeatedly sought comments from INCA through phone calls and emails. In one of them, the General Coordinator, Drini Zusi, told me that “the company is 100% based on a circular economy” and that accusing “the leading environmental protection company in Albania of environmental damage is absurd.”
But two KTA inspections, conducted a day after the protest in front of the ministry, found the factory in violation regarding the discharge of water into the watershed.
KTA analyses, taken at two different times on October 24, showed that the emissions were above the permitted norms and for this, two fines of 1 million lek were imposed, as well as a suspension of activity.
My request for comment from the company went unanswered.
The KTA asked local authorities to implement its order to suspend activity. However, despite the communication of the decision, the company continued its activities as normal.
"They have no will to implement the decision ," said activist Arilda Lleshi, initiator of the petition and protests.
Lleshi indicated that he had had communications with the police, the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, or the Territory Protection Inspectorate, but had received excuses from them.
" The police said 'We will gather the institutions and do something'... Nothing happened. Water Supply and Sewerage said 'We have nothing to do with this work, we simply made a water connection for the needs of the employees there' while those from IKM said 'We don't have the means '," Lleshi summarized.
But despite not being implemented, the KTA's decision was a partial victory for the residents, as it confirmed that they were right about the claims that the factory was polluting the environment.
Lleshi, who shares a similar consideration, told me that “the resistance will continue.” She told me that they are planning more protests in January and that they have also referred the matter to the prosecutor’s office.
"Last but not least, we will start holding daily protests at the factory to block work. This is the plan! " summarizes Arilda Lleshi.
INCA is owned by Alban Zusi, a well-known entrepreneur in the animal products processing industry. The company is supported by the Albanian government and the European Union through the “IPARD II” funding scheme.
It benefited from around 670 thousand euros of public money from a 1.3 million euro investment in equipment and machinery for the factory, which was inaugurated on February 16, 2020 with the presence of Bledi Çuçi, then Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Zusi was Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the first term of the Rama government. He served in the cabinet of then-Minister Edmond Panarit until September 30, 2015, when he resigned for "personal reasons."/ Prapaskena
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