Sewage and Tourist Eco-charges for the Protection of the Albanian-Ionian Coast

The overall goal of the pilot project "Sewage and tourist eco-charges for the protection of the Albanian Ionian Coast" is to protect the Ionian coast of Albania from the untreated sewage water discharges. This project is in line with the national priorities in the field of environment and tourism, general efforts for EU legislation approximation, as well as with the principle of sustainable development. It is also in line with the measures undertaken by the government of Albania for the construction of the sewage collector and treatment plant in Vlora, an investment made by the PHARE Programme, which has been taken in consideration during the preparation of the proposal.

In order to secure the long-term and normal operation of the sewage collector and treatment plant (which will be finalised by the end of 2003), sustainable financial sources are needed.
The project will study the socio-economic situation in the Vlora region, the payment ability of the local population, enterprises, different stakeholders, tourists, etc. in order to assess the possibility of sustainable recovery (either partially or totally) of the operative and maintenance costs of the sewage collector and treatment plant. This will be realised by implementing certain earmarked eco-charges (collected by the municipality) based on the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) and the Beneficiary Pays Principle (BPP). The rest will be subsidised by the state budget.

Some of the main project activities include: preparation of the Diagnostic Analysis for Vlora; publication in Albanian of the leaflet on environmental economic instruments, which will be addressed to all decision-makers directly or indirectly involved in environment protection; completion of the project website with the Albanian data; public awareness activities with regard to economic instruments; a training workshop on economic instruments; organisation of inter-ministerial meetings, preparation/amendment of certain laws and/or by-laws; etc.

Monitoring results of that part of the Ionian Sea before and after the application of the charges will be an effective way of raising awareness and drawing attention of both the government and the public to the effectiveness of economic instruments as contemporary and successful instruments for environmental protection. Experience gained through this study can be replicated later on in other regions of the Ionian and Adriatic coast of Albania.

Publications / Documents

Pilot Project Implementation Plan [ eng ]   Power point presentation [ eng ]

Ms. Narin Panariti
Director of Environmental Policy and Project Implementation
Ministry of Environment
Blvd. "Zhan D'Ark" Nr.2
Tirana

Tel: +355 4 270 630;
Fax: +355 4 270 627;
E-mail: panariti@icc-al.org

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