On the 6th of September, “JAMARBËR GROUP” planned to organise a public hearing on construction of a new incinerator for burning the medical and animal waste, with the participation of the community, the local authorities and the environmental organizations facilitated by the Regional Environment Agency of Durres.
Milieukontakt Albania has followed the case closely and at the first moment we have been informed about the date and hour of the hearing session, with the help of the local authorities the citizens of Shijak have been notified about it.
The company ‘JAMARBËR GROUP sh.p.k has been registered at the Business register at 15-03-2017 and established on 13-03-2017 with NIPTI L71515507M.
The first Environmental Permit has been approved for “JAMARBËR GROUP” for the project: “Treatment of the medical waste”. Consequently, the public has been informed about the EIA on 14-04-2017. The announcement of the organization of the public consultation has been made 2 days prior.
During the implementation of the activity was concluded that the activity has an effect on the environment, on the basis of Law no. 60/2014 dated 19.6.2014, ” in the law no. 10448, dated July 14, 2011, “Permit of the Environment”, Annex I, is subject to the Environmental Permit Processing Proceedings. Therefore the company is asked to apply for Environmental License TYPE B for the activity “Disposal of the hazardous, except for the purpose of the incineration and landfilling, and the license for the category III.2.B for collection, transportation and the elimination of the medical waste. The public consultation was held on 08-06-2017. The announcement has been made public 2 days prior.
Meanwhile, on 17.08.2017, the “JAMARBËR GROUP” applied again for the ” Incineration of waste including animal waste” and on the date 05.09.2017, 20 days after the publication on WEB of NEA, and the REA Durrës, notification on the public consultation was done for the meeting to be held on September 6th regarding Permit TYPE A or B (over 1 ton/h is TYPE PERMIT A).
At this stage of the application, monitored by MIA, many problems on documentation and reports have been found. In a message sent to REA Durres were listed some issues and concerns regarding the process of profound EIA and the documentation:
– The exact date of the application for the EIA,
– Preliminary consultation process with the right actors about the case and with whom?
– The preliminary report content was not at all according to law requirements.
– Expert company preparing the “report”?
– EIA was not considering local policy documents (Local Waste Management Plan approved in December 2016))
However, despite the deficiency, it was very determinant the protests of the inhabitants and a petition signed by 100 persons. Process was supported by MIAs, with information and support for the inhabitants explaining the reasons why the incineration should not be built.
The meeting was not held and the police together with the staff of the municipality, inspected the place and blocked the activity until a decision will be taken by respective institutions. The documents have been delivered to the prosecutor of the judicial district of Durres. It had high media coverage.
After few days Shijak Municipality send a letter to REA of Durrës in response to the announcement listing reasons and the opinion of the municipality to such an investment. At the same day MIA sent a letter to NEA, REA Durrës stating some thoughts / Reflections on this issue. At the end we received the good news that the permission was not granted and public consultation failed.
Last but not least, we have to thank the local authorities for the hug support of the initiative, the community for responding in large number to our call, showing that being united and with the same purpose to protect the environment it is a moral duty and we should not feel inferior in front of companies that invest millions in harming peoples health.
