TIRANA, August 28/ATA/ Deputy Prime Minister and at the same time Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku said today that the Albanian government, but also the European anti-fraud office OLAF have launched an investigation on the matter of hazardous waste to Thailand.
During a briefing, after the meeting of the government, Balluku stated that the Port Authority of Durrës has no bearing with the transportation of hazardous waste to Thailand. She asked the media organs not to speculate, but to leave the matter to justice.
“I would call on the media to be careful when analyzing this matter. I would consider it legally complicated. It has a negative impact on the image of Albania; it would be wise to wait for the decisions that will come out of the processes that has started on this environmental issue, which affects the image of Albania”, she emphasized.
According to Balluku, the matter of waste and the port of Durrës are two different things.
“The transportation of hazardous waste started in 1998; this is to give you facts that there is a real protocol for which the Ministry of Environment has given details. It is nothing new, there is also transit and export of waste that is coded based on European codes. It was a normal procedure until it reached this size, but it must be said that the Port Authority has nothing to do with this process. The Port Authority and the concessionaire that carried out this transport are two competing entities. I would stop the information on this point since the government and the authorities have been engaged since the first day in cooperation with OLAF, and I would ask that everyone give the necessary time to justice and then we will talk. Let’s not turn this procedural issue into a national and international issue that affects Albania in this tourist season”, said Balluku.
The deputy prime minister emphasized that the concessionaire company has received this service in the Port of Durrës since the time when the Democratic Party was in power and is a company of an EU country. /p.s./
