Water Pollution Keeps the Tourists Away

09 August 2005

The pollution has hurt Durres tourist season

After a number of warnings, the Durres District Office cancelled the contract to supply the citizens of this coastal city with potable water with the German company �Berlin Wasser�. The decision to annul the contract is a result of the irresponsible and indifferent attitude of the officials of the German company.

�Berlin Wasser�, in spite of several constraining actions by local organs, follow their old habit of not supplying the proper services to the inhabitants of Durres, for which the Albanian state has invested 20 million dollars during these last years.

In addition, the continuous lack of water supply in Plazh (beach) area resulted into a visible reduction of the tourist flow in the region. Although Plazh�s maintenance office has done a good job in the preparation for this season, the lack of water, spilling of sewage into the sea, lack of public water closets throughout the whole territory of Durres beach resulted in a fall of numbers of tourists far below the predicted levels.

The Plazh area still suffers from the lack of water supply and other infrastructure facilities, in spite of the investment from the state budget for the reconstruction of the road from Ura e Dajlanit to Plepa, which cost 9 million euro and after a flood of political promises during the election campaign.