Even though the removal of bulky waste from some areas of Pristina has begun in recent days, the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, declared that the waste situation in Kosovo is an emergency.
Regarding this issue and the action taken by the Municipality of Pristina to clean up waste, in an interview with Ekonomia Online, the director of Public Services in the capital, Leutrim Retkoceri, said that dozens of locations have been cleaned so far.
Retkoceri stated that the large amount of bulky waste came as a result of the decision of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning.
"The reason why there has been and is such a large volume of waste is because for two months in a row, bulky and inert waste has not been collected from the capital, after the Ministry of Environment issued a decision that blocked the landfill that was in Matičani for this waste. And the companies have not been able to send it anywhere else because they have not even accepted it at the Mirash landfill," he said.
He also spoke about the steps the municipality has taken to manage the situation and find a long-term solution to the problem.
"We have taken all the necessary steps to secure locations and the procedure to build a transit center for bulky waste, in which bulky waste is being collected and then it will be separated, classified and distributed to central landfills as required by the legislation in force. The action has been extremely well received by citizens. One phenomenon that has been observed is that in all neighborhoods, especially urban ones in the capital, landfills or illegal waste are placed next to containers by citizens who do not live in those neighborhoods, unfortunately," says Director Retkoceri.
Speaking about the current situation on the ground, Retkoceri said that dozens of problematic locations have been identified.
"From the Public Services team that we have organized since Saturday, we have identified 72 locations. Of these, 55 locations have been completely cleaned so far. There are still a small number of locations left unfinished and we will soon reach the completion of those locations and take care of maintenance, for which we ask for the help of all citizens and persons who can contribute to the identification of the perpetrators of these actions that throw waste and on the other hand help in the fastest localization of these places where intervention is needed", he further emphasizes.
Regarding Kurti's statement, he hoped that such statements would not serve as part of the campaign.
"This has been necessary for a long time. The call now for an election campaign by all those who are candidates, I hope it will not serve as a political campaign, but rather an awareness campaign that responds to the need of the country. As I mentioned earlier, while the acting Minister of the Environment had issued a decision, together with inspectors from this ministry, to ban and block a landfill for bulky waste, we have seen calls to go out and clean the city. This does not go together. We should not be guided by policies that block the central level and the local level from each other. We should be guided by the principle of providing the best possible services to citizens, in order to fulfill the representative obligation that we have received from the citizens", added Retkoceri.
Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Acting Minister Fitore Pacolli presented on Wednesday a new package for the removal of illegal waste dumps throughout Kosovo. During the presentation, institutional measures were outlined for cleaning public spaces and addressing environmental pollution, through a new state action.
Kurti said that the waste situation is serious and in some areas it can even be considered an emergency, emphasizing the need for immediate institutional intervention.
He announced that for this purpose, a new draft law and a national action have been prepared, which aims to remove around 500 illegal landfills throughout the country, with a budget of 1 million euros.
On May 16, the Public Services Directorate in Pristina launched an action to remove bulky waste.
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