“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
Albpetrol’s pollution of the Vjosa: AKM penalises it, IKMT defends it
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 9 July 2025
In this article
Official responses from the authorities confirm a painful reality about oil pollution in the Vjosa. State-owned companies such as Albpetrol pollute without consequences, while the government and its institutions remain either passive or contradictory in their positions.
Green propaganda on the Vjosa
In a Facebook video, Prime Minister Rama announced on Tuesday that the Vjosa National Park Administration Office had opened. The video showed scenes of the crystal-clear waters of “the queen of Europe’s rivers”.
In the accompanying text, Rama stressed that the Vjosa could receive the protection it deserves “only through close coordination”. The video, with the same message, was also shared by the minister of Environment and Tourism, Mirela Kumbaro, and the ministry’s official page.
But if we examine the government’s actions and failures to act, this message is not sincere. On the contrary, it is part of the propaganda of the past two years, since the national park was declared, which has portrayed the government as “environmentally friendly”.
In fact, Prime Minister Rama’s own government does not coordinate with other parties on protecting the Vjosa. It has pushed ahead, including through changes to the law, with the development of an airport in Akërni, Vlorë.
The organisation Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) has opposed the project because it damages the ecosystem of the Vjosë-Nartë protected landscape. For a year and a half, the case has been stalled at the Supreme Court, awaiting the release of the written decision returning it to the Court of Appeal for a retrial.
Meanwhile, the government has remained silent in the face of recent reports by RiverWatch, EcoAlbania and Euronatur about pollution of the Vjosa with oil, bitumen and urban waste.
IKMT plays down oil pollution in the Vjosa
In a written response to Citizens.al, the National Inspectorate for the Protection of Territory (IKMT) acknowledges that it carried out no environmental inspections during 2024–2025 in the Gorisht or Selenicë areas, which are exposed to industrial pollution from hydrocarbons and bitumen.
IKMT goes further, saying it has imposed no administrative sanction on Albpetrol and has notified neither the Ministry of Environment nor the prosecutor’s office, even though images of the pollution made public in the media demonstrated visible damage in a protected area such as Vjosa National Park.
The inspectorate’s working group appears to have been satisfied with statements by Albpetrol representatives, who said that the hydrocarbon deposits in the Gorisht stream “have accumulated over an operating period of around 60 years, during which there has been no rehabilitation of the riverbed”.
According to IKMT, the pollution is not the result of a technical failure, but of oil waste deposited near the stream over the years.
“There has been no failure in the storage and transmission system that could cause a hydrocarbon leak,” IKMT told Citizens.al, based on its checks and contacts with Albpetrol representatives.
AKM: 50 thousand euros in fines against Albpetrol for repeated pollution
Unlike IKMT, the National Environment Agency (AKM) states in an official response that, in the past two years alone, the Fier Regional Environment Agency (ARM) has imposed four administrative sanctions on Albpetrol for:
- discharging untreated water containing hydrocarbon waste.
- inadequate handling of hazardous waste.
- missing documentation of periodic monitoring.
- failure to comply with the conditions of its environmental permit.
Fier’s ARM is recorded as having fined Albpetrol 500,000 lekë in September–October 2022, 2,000,000 lekë in September 2023, 1,500,000 lekë in December 2023 and 1,000,000 lekë in September–October 2024.
This response reveals a clear contrast with the position of IKMT, which, despite seeing the situation on the ground, took no measures and did not report the case to law-enforcement authorities.
Vjosa, a national park only on paper
The Ministry of Tourism and Environment, Albpetrol and the Vlorë prosecutor’s office have so far failed to respond to Citizens.al’s requests for information.
This silence deepens doubts and distrust about the level of “institutional coordination” the government is calling for today. It also highlights the lack of transparency on issues with environmental consequences.
With some institutions showing indifference and others acknowledging repeated violations, responsibility for pollution of Vjosa National Park cannot remain a matter of debate between offices. It requires immediate legal and institutional action.
The latest case in Gorisht reinforces the conviction that national-park status for the Vjosa is not being accompanied by real protection on the ground. Pollution from the oil industry continues to recur, often unchecked and, for the most part, without consequences for the polluters.
This situation requires the prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Environment and the other responsible institutions to go beyond formal responses and guarantee a full investigation, penalties for those who break the rules, and immediate measures to rehabilitate the area.