FLASH
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Fiks Fare has repeatedly denounced attempts by private firms and individuals to turn the water channels in the Kune Vaini Lagoon in Lezha into land for construction.
Although it is a protected area, private individuals have suspiciously been provided with ownership certificates under Law 7501 in that area. The certificates stipulate that the water surface, the main channel that serves as the entrance and exit of seawater into the Lagoon, also have ownership documents.
The Lezha Prosecutor's Office has started an investigation some time ago, where violations were found, while the property surfaces were seized. The case is still in court. Meanwhile, on the ground the situation continues to be the same, where from time to time, there have been attempts by private companies and individuals to fill these canals. In two cases, Fiksi has identified attempts to fill the canal.
In May 2022, the investigative show's camera filmed dozens of trucks with inert materials filling the canals of the Kune Vaini Lagoon. A person approached Fiksi's group, threatening to break their camera and leave. He said that the canal has a certificate of ownership. At that time, several officials of the protected areas and the IMT of the Lezha Municipality were arrested for these interventions. Meanwhile, despite the prosecution's investigations and arrests, the people were not stopped.
Fiksi found out in April 2023 that large piles of inert materials, concrete, stones, bricks, etc., had been dumped into the canal, thus occupying more than half of its space, to make it possible to cross from one side of the lagoon to the other. Residents of the area said that it is the same group that operates in that area and has never stopped. Fiksi also went to September 2023, where although the canal was open, state institutions neglected maintenance, turning the water of the Lagoon into polluted.
Meanwhile, in recent days, the editorial office of the investigative show received more information that some people were trying to open the Lagoon channel in another place, not in the natural one, since the natural channel was blocked. By opening in another place, the channel communicating with the sea gives those who have ownership certificates of the water area the opportunity to fill it and turn it into land. So, from water owners, they become land owners!
These interventions, the repeated blocking of the natural channel of the lagoon, have led to the breach of the embankment in Tale and the recent flooding in the area! Fiksi found out that a vehicle from the Drainage Board had gone to the area. The Drainage Board delayed the opening of the channel by several days, as there were interventions not to open it in that stream, since the area "was private". This delay is suspected to have also caused the flooding of the Tale area in Lezha.
The day Fiksi went to that place, there was an excavator vehicle of the Drainage Board, which was opening the channel in the natural flow. The journalists spoke with the inspector of the Protected Areas, Zef Gjeçi, who said that the situation is problematic after the breach of an embankment. He said that the vehicle was requested by the Protected Areas and now the existing, natural channel is being opened.
Fiksi asked him what works were done in that area. "A day or two ago, some private people came with vehicles and did some work. We only saw the works and did not identify any people. They were trying to open the new canal, not the natural one," says Gjeçi. According to him, the Protected Areas have reacted and are opening the canal in the same place!
The journalists call Nikolin Prendi, director of the Drainage Board in Lezha. Fiksi asks him if the Drainage Board's vehicle attempted to open the canal not at the natural stream, but meters away.
He initially said that the area is managed by the Protected Areas and he had no knowledge. Fiksi informs him that an excavator from the Board has gone to that place, while he says that it was done at the request of the Protected Areas. Fiksi asks him if the Drainage Board wanted to open the canal in another place, after information that the Drainage Board would not open it in the natural flow. He says that "no, since the Lagoon is managed by a private company"./ Fiks Fare
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