In an interview with Ilva Tare yesterday evening, Mayor Erion Veliaj has pushed back against the criticism of his plan to double the water price in Tirana in order to actually improve the system he claimed he had been “fixing” since 2015.
In the interview, Veliaj called the proposal “a business plan for 24-hour water in Tirana,” and he was positive that the Municipal Council, which is now in the hands of the PD–LSI opposition, would approve his plan:
I am speaking with all the actors about this decision, including also the official opposition in the Municipal Council.
Mayor Veliaj stressed that he wouldn’t give up, in spite of the public resistance against his proposed price hike:
I will not give up. Let the whole hunting pack of Tirana that is pursuing me know, I don’t part from a thing that is right and to for the salvation of this city. […]
[The Municipality of Tirana] will begin first with a credit that we are negotiating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the main tube, €20 million for the main tube so that we’re sure that that pasta strainer won’t break again and is stable. After that we’ll add capacity to the [reservoir] of Bovilla.
