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Vlora citizens demand a referendum and a yachting harbour instead of an oil terminal and pipeline

The Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Vlora Bay, a local Albanian initiative group, continued on Sunday to press for a referendum on an oil deposit and a thermo-power plant being constructed north of the town of Vlora on Albania’s Adriatic coast.

The group’s latest rally on Sunday picked up from the major protest on January 18 this year when representatives from the World Bank Inspection Panel visited Vlora to investigate allegations regarding the harmful impacts of the thermo-power plant the World Bank is financing together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

With a symbolic act of “planting the trees of life instead of oil of the dead”, the protestors intended to plant new trees at the 183,000 square metre hydrocarbons storage site being promoted by Petrolífera Italo-Rumena.

The rally was confronted by police squads that prevented it from entering the site. Continuing in front of the construction site, the citizens repeated their request for a local referendum on the oil terminal.

A referendum was turned down by the National Election Committee in October 2007 on procedural grounds. The Civic Alliance representatives called on the Albanian President to carry out his constitutional duty, protect citizens’ right to participate and allow a local referendum on oil and energy development in the tourist zone of Vlora just as in the Bulgarian harbour of Bourgas where local people participated in a referendum on the Bourgas-Alexandropoulis oil pipeline.

Vlora is also being seriously talked of as an Adriatic outpost for the AMBO pipeline which is planned to bring oil from Bourgas via Macedonia. In his rally speech, the well-known Albanian publicist Ardian Klosi called on the mayor and the city council to support the Vlora citizens in their efforts to stop the oil projects in Vlora Bay and to promote tourist development in the city by constructing a yachting harbour instead of hydrocarbons storage at the beach.

Vlora demonstrators tell World Bank delegation to pull out of disputed power plant

Close to 3000 residents of Vlora, an Albanian city on the Adriatic coast, greeted the visit of representatives of the World Banks Inspection Panel with a clear plea – end World Bank credits for the EUR 110m thermal power plant that is part of a huge energy park development threatening the sensitive Vlora bay.

It is the second time that the Inspection Panel members have visited Vlora since local initiative group the Alliance for Protection of Vlora Bay lodged an appeal in April 2007. These huge energy developments have speeded ahead with next to no public consultation, and in recent months local residents have staged regular demonstrations and road blockades, accompanied by violent police crackdowns. The EBRD and the EIB are both also involved in the financing of the plant, a project that has been formally rebuked by the UNs Aarhus Convention because of the extremely limited public consultations offered by the developers.

Read more about the Vlora Industrial and Energy Park.

Vlora citizens’ road blockade stops construction work on energy projects for eighth day

The Civic Alliance for Protection of the Vlora Bay together with the Vlora Student Movement is now in the eighth day of protesting against construction of the Vlora thermo-power plant and a hydrocarbons terminal on a beach on the outskirts of the Albanian city located on the Adriatic coast. On December 25 a group of 30 people blocked the access road to the construction sites thus preventing further progress on both sites. Four days later, 10 protesters were arrested, including Eneid Hamzaj, the leader of the Vlora Student Movement.

The protestors have long expressed their concerns about the location and the environmental impact of the thermo-power plant which is financially supported by the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Concern has also been expressed about the planned hydro-carbon terminal which is being promoted by the Italian company “La Petrolifera Italo Rumena,” currently seeking financing from the EBRD. The road-blockade was preceded by a series of protests, including one staged on November 21 by the Vlora University students during which a Petrolíferia representative was hit with eggs, fish and diesel.

The leaders of the Civic Alliance have declared that the protest will continue until the central government respects the local population’s right to decide themselves about the energy projects in Vlora. Their call for respect of civic rights dates back to a proposed referendum concerning the Petrolifera hydrocarbons terminal that was filed by the City Council of Vlora in October. However the State Central Electoral Committee rejected the referendum on formal grounds.

Resistance to the Balkan pipeline carve up is growing


The meeting organised by Croatian NGOs including Zagreb office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Human Rights Center and Eko Kvarner took place in Sisak, the most polluted town in Croatia, thanks in no small way to a local unrefurbished oil refinery and a crude oil fuelled thermo power plant. Experienced and new campaigners were joined by legal and marine experts, and the meeting resulted in the establishment of an informal network and concrete plans for strengthening current campaigns on pipeline projects. Bankwatch outlined the potential involvement of the IFIs in these projects and, based on our experience of the problems in previous such projects financed by the banks, showed that the IFIs’ safeguard standards are no match for the social and environmental dangers of oil pipelines and related infrastructure. Read the declaration here.