Progress continues on Albania's controversial Vlorë airport construction
29 June 2024
Albania's controversial new Vlorë airport is progressing in construction and will receive a new power plant as announced in a recent bid for the project.
The declaration of the tender without further protests from environmentalists marks the government's victory in a long and controversial battle. In 2018, the government announced plans to construct a new airport for Vlorë in southern Albania. The project was first cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then picked up again in 2021 with a new group of investors. This is when the controversy started. The projected site for the airport was set near the Narta lagoon, a wildlife refuge for more than 70 endangered species, and within the boundaries of the Vjosa National Park, which contradicts national laws.
Environmental protests have ensued ever since and involved calls to stop the project by multiple organisations including the Mediterranean Alliance for Wetlands, an international network of 30 organisations, as well as the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS) and the Society for the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA). These protests pushed back the original April 2024 deadline but the airport's completion is projected for 2025. It remains to be seen how big of a blow this project will be to Albania's environment and the environmentalist community.
 | Silvio Icka As much as we enjoy traveling to exotic and beautiful destinations, development projects such as the Vlorë airport are harming the beauty and pristine nature we want to see. Albania's push toward a tourism-based economy may well endanger the natural beauty and biodiversity attracting nature enthusiasts. |
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