The Artificial Lake Park in Tirana is turning into the favorite building site of the Municipality of Tirana. After the construction, in violation of the Aarhus Convention and a series of national laws, of the children’s playground and the plans to build a hotel, it now appears that Mayor Veliaj is planning to turn the park completely into an urbanized zone.
Even though only school buses are allowed to enter the park, as signaled by a sign at its entrance, personal cars have been using the park throughout the day freely without a policeman in sight.
However, this is not the only legal violation happening within the Lake Park. Mayor Veliaj has decided to build a new road, broader than the currently existing one, up to the Wilson School.
All these interventions into the Lake Park are happening under a regime of complete intransparency. There is no information sign at the beginning of the work site, as required by law; there is no information available of which company is doing the work; there is no information on when the work is supposed to be finished; and finally, the Municipality of Tirana has failed to organize public hearings about these interventions, as required by the Aarhus Convention and the Law on Public Hearings.
And if this weren’t enough, other roads are constructed throughout the park, fully urbanizing an environment that before consisted of solely forest.
