Fiks Fare/ Investments of half a million euros, dead animals and sewage from Lezha are thrown into the Drin river

A million euro project. In fact, over the years, the project remained half-finished, as it only filters Shengjin’s sewage. What about Lezha?! They are thrown into the river Drin, which passes between Lezha, where the editorial office of “Fiks Fare” received photos and videos of dead animals in the middle of this river. In the images received, some animals can be seen, decomposed, which stay for weeks or months in those waters, becoming a source of infections for the residents of the area.

After these videos, the journalists of “Fiks Fare” traveled to Lezhë, where they found the same problems: the dead animals were still in the river Drin! An animal was in the vicinity of the “Beselidhja” neighborhood, which had been in that place for several weeks and smelled badly.

The other animal was in the vicinity of the “Skenderbej” neighborhood, which had also been living there for weeks and had begun to decompose. Meanwhile, along the entire length of the river that passes through Lezhë, there was a lot of garbage, plastic bins, and even garbage bags, thrown into the river.

But, in addition to the pollution with garbage and dead animals, the Drin river is also polluted by two sewage collectors of Lezha. The collectors discharge the waters into the river Drin. One collector is near the “Besëlidhja” neighborhood and the other one is near the Library and the Tomb of Skenderbeu.

However, “Fiks Fare” has learned that, since 2012, it has started building a sewage treatment plant for Lezha and Shengjin, and even some pumps have been installed that would receive the sewage to take it to the plant. But the pumps were removed in 2017 and for years, sewage has been dumped into the Drin River.

“Fiks Fare” reporters went to the Water and Sewerage Directorate of Lezha, where it says on the website that there is a wastewater treatment plant that has been operating since 2014 and helps 51,000 citizens. On the website it is written that there are 6 pumping stations that transport and discharge the waters of the main collectors in ITUN and the receiving water body for the processed waters is in the river. The lifespan of ITUN Lezhë, according to the project, is 20 years.

The director of Lezhë Waterworks says that the plant does not treat the waters of Lezhë, but only of Shengjin. According to him, another investment will be made to take the water and take it to the Plant. The director says that the feasibility study is being done and it will be finished in 1 month or so and then it will be tendered to be done.

Fix also went to Impianti, which is near Shengjin. This plant, according to information, was started to be built in 2012 by the former Minister of Infrastructure, the late Sokol Olldashi. Initially, it cost 8.3 million euros, while year after year more money was thrown to make it functional. For 10 years, from 2012 to 2022, a full 25 million euros have been spent on the Lezha Waterworks, including waste water. However, the waste water does not go to be processed at the Plant, but is thrown into the river!