Author: Klevis Paloka
Public health expert Ilir Alimehmeti reiterates that the disinfection of beaches should not be neglected, even more so in times of pandemic.
"Disinfection of beaches and any tourist environment should be carried out normally, as always, to prevent infectious diseases in general", says Dr. Alimehmeti for "SIGNALIZO!".
But for the second year in a row, even though this summer season, like all over the world, was affected by Covid-19, the conditions to ensure the safety of beachgoers left much to be desired. So the documents show how the Ministry of Health and Social Protection together with the Ministry of Tourism and Environment in cooperation with the National Coastal Agency approved the joint order for the "protocol of anti-covid-19 measures during the tourist season".
Among many criteria, one of the measures defined in this protocol is the disinfection of their premises by the owners of private entities. But before this criterion that is assigned to private entities, the municipalities that own the beaches should carry out their disinfection at the beginning of the season.
At this point, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection responds "Disinfection is a process carried out by the local government", says the reaction to the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism.
But some of the municipalities that manage the beaches along the coastline did not provide funds for this process.
"The Municipality of Saranda has not developed a tender for the disinfection and cleaning of the beaches in its territory for 2021 and for the summer season.", it is stated in the official response of Saranda Municipality to ACQJ.
In addition to Saranda, other municipalities, such as Himara, Vlora and Shkodra, also acted in the same way.
"In the Municipality of Himarë, no tender has been held for the cleaning and disinfection of the beaches for 2021", it is emphasized in the response of this Municipality.
"The Municipality of Vlora has not yet developed a procurement with the object of disinfecting and cleaning the beaches.", says for ACQJ, the Municipality of Vlora.
Even the Municipality of Shkodra has not conducted a tender for beach disinfection.
Only Durrës was disinfected
The only municipality that has conducted a tender and that has foreseen in the draft budget of 2021 for the disinfection of beaches is the Municipality of Durrës.
"Regarding the Tender for disinfection, we clarify that: From the Project-Budget of 2021 approved by the Municipality of Durrës in the anticipated items, in account no. 602, (operating expenses & maintenance), the Plazh Municipal Enterprise has planned the procurement of small value for disinfectants worth 480 Lek. The winning company is "Zeqiri Shpk", for "purchasing Helm Citroforte, disinfectants" with a value of ALL 000 with Procurement Order 'No. 418.800 dt. 8", it is stated in the official response of the Municipality of Durrës.
But even though tenders for disinfectants and also for the cleaning of these beaches have been foreseen, the beaches in the Durrës area are the most problematic in terms of waste cleaning. Overflowing garbage bins occupied not only the main roads but also the businesses along the coastline of this city.
"The cleaning of the city is carried out by the enterprises depending on the Municipality, namely Durrës Municipal Service Enterprise and Plazh, which cleans the area (Plazh, Shkozet, Rrashbull). , timber etc. These vehicles make 1–2 routes every day. In the tourist season that starts in May, the number of routes that run can be increased depending on the remains until the season closes at the end of September", emphasizes the Municipality of Durrës. But in fact the reality shows otherwise.
"They are cleaned, but the waste must be cleaned 2 times a day, they help once and as you can see, it looks pretty dirty", says a resident of Durrës. Even the images of the garbage dumps on the beach of Golem clearly show negligence in regular cleaning by the Municipality of Durrës.
Businesses are equally indifferent
In addition to disinfection by local institutions, subjects have an obligation to disinfect their premises every day, but this is not done by almost any subject.
"I have been here since the beginning of the season, and I have not seen that the hotel premises, nor the beach or the pool, are disinfected", an employee of a hotel in the Himara area signals on condition of anonymity. He is not the only one, others write about "SIGNALIZO!".
"The beach in Durrës is full of seaweed" writes a citizen, according to whom even the announcement that this beach would be cleaned was just propaganda.
Controls and inspections
In order to control the implementation of these measures, it was decided that monitoring should be done by the National Coastal Agency and the State Health Inspectorate.
According to AKB, from the beginning of the tourist season until the middle of August, in 82 cases the inspectors have carried out verifications on the ground.
"We have carried out 50 controls, 32 inspections, of which we have imposed 25 administrative measures, 8 fines for lack of contract of the beach station worth 1.600.000 ALL and we have given 17 warnings for non-fulfillment of the criteria according to VKM 171/2019", says the AKB's response.
While for the respect of health protocols, the competent institution to carry out the inspection was designated the ISSH.
ACQJ contacted the Chief Inspector of ISHH, Vjollca Braho, to ask about the monitoring that has been carried out during these times on the beaches, but did not receive any response.
From an observation on the website of this institution, it can be seen that daily monitoring reports have been published in the field, but the results and data on what has been concretely found are missing.
For his part, the hotel employee in the Himara area says that he has never seen any inspection group in his workplace, neither for the implementation of anti-covid measures nor for the implementation of VKM 171/2019 on the stations of the beach.
They all say the same thing: there are problems with the protocol
The non-implementation of anti-covid measures by the subjects is also confirmed by Zak Topuzi, chairman of the Albanian Tourism Association.
"Of course, there were entities that did not implement the measures and were out of control, but the customers themselves were their whistleblowers to the police or social networks", says Topuzi for ACQJ.
Although it is regulated by law and with a special VKM as it is VKM 171/2019, one of the problems that continues to appear on Albanian beaches is the space that must be left by people who rent a beach station for public use.
In many beaches of the country, there is a lack of space that should be left for the general public to use the beach.
This issue is also highlighted by the High State Control in the audit done and describes the 80% private and 20% public ratio as unverifiable in the field.
"The ratio of 80% private and 20% public is unverifiable in the field, considering that it refers to a general territory for application, and not specific to each beach area. Consequently, the space of 20% public, from an objective legal obligation, turns into a subjective obligation, because in the absence of a planning determination by VKM, it is left to the discretion of the municipalities where this bandage will be applied”, it is stated in the audit of the KLSH.
Also in this audit it is stated that the 20% that is reserved for the public constitutes a beach territory that is not suitable and accessible for citizens.
"Field observations show that the 20% that is reserved for the public constitutes a beach territory that, due to hygiene problems or the long distance, is not suitable and accessible for citizens. This causes a fulfillment of the legal obligation as a statistical effect, and not in function of guaranteeing public access to the beach", emphasizes the audit of KLSH.
While unlike Albania, our neighboring country, Montenegro, which has a shorter coastline than us, has determined by law that any entity that rents a beach station is obliged to leave 50% of the beach for public use. of the space he rented, so there is a ratio of 50% private and 50% public.
