Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi and cabinet ministers were today on the ground to track closely and resolve the situation created by the rainfall in the most problematic areas. Deputy PM Niko Peleshi, accompanied by the Mayor of Lezha Fran Frrokaj was in the village of Pllanë of Zejmen during the evacuation operation of families in danger by the floods. He met with leaders of central and local government, and inquired about the measures being taken by them in order to help the residents.

Deputy PM Peleshi said that the government reacted timely, and other measures will be taken in order to bring situation to normal. In addition, Deputy PM said that the territory, as an asset shared by Albanians, requires a special treatment, therefore the challenge of the future is a modern approach in order to prevent civil emergencies. Deputy PM Niko Peleshi said that this year the central government and the local government will share not only responsibilities and competences, but also the budget for irrigation and drainage, and will develop in cooperation a series of important projects.

“This has been a responsibility of our society for over 20 years. Of course, the main responsibilities remain with the governments and politics, but after all Albania is shared by all of us. This is a common territory, so let’s treat from now onwards carefully. This is not a matter of how we react when flooding occurs. We have experienced much serious floods. Today’s response has been timely and other forces are joining. The issue is how the central government will cooperate together with the municipality, the local government. We have decided that 2016 is the year when the central government and the local government will share not only responsibilities and competences, but also the budget for irrigation and drainage, at least for primary and secondary canals. We have allocated funds to prevent flooding. Our challenge, now and in the future, is a modern approach to the territory, in order to prevent civil emergencies. We have allocated 25 million dollars to the local governments to finance irrigation-drainage schemes. We will buy a quantity of 30 or 40 excavators that will be distributed to all municipalities, which will create their drainage boards, because they have taken the responsibility and competence for secondary canals. Meanwhile, we will provide sufficient funding for rehabilitation projects, so this year will mark a qualitative development in terms of irrigation and drainage works, which means prevention of such flooding.

Of course the problem is much larger and requires even stronger measures, as many floods are caused by uncontrolled forest exploitation, illegal building in riverbeds and everywhere. Therefore, we have decided on the one hand to discourage illegal construction and legalize as soon as possible what today can be legalized, so legalization will belong to the present and the past, and not become a need in the future. We ought not to deal with illegal constructions in the future, therefore the responsibility to protect the territory of Albania, to protect each other, despite the goals that everyone has, should be shared. Someone’s aim is to build a home for a better life. Someone else want to use the territory for business purposes, but in the end the shared responsibility and common goal should be an area protected against the floods and therefore safe from emergencies. All boards, emergency headquarters at the prefectures in Albania are functional”, Deputy PM Peleshi said.