The ambitious Vlora Industrial and Energy Park was designed by the Albanian government in early 2000 as a panacea for the soaring energy crisis the country has faced since the collapse of Communism.   Original construction plans included a 500 hectare complex with offshore oil and oil by-products deposits, related portal installations, a thermo power plant (TPP), LPG deposits, and other strategic projects such as the Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria Oil pipeline outpost, hydrocarbons storage facilities, a refinery and industrial processing unit.

The National Council of Territorial Adjustment approved the site for the industrial and energy park at the picturesque Vlora Bay in February 2003. The park was designed to boarder the city of Vlora to the south (100 meters from residential areas), the protected Narta lagoon to the north (500 meters) and the Adriatic Sea to the west. In part due to ongoing public protests and political deliberations, the government requested that the National Council of Territorial Adjustment review its decision and restrict the status of the Vlora park to an industrial one in May 2007. Although some of the park’s energy components may be moved to a new energy park in Porto Romano in the city of Durres, Vlora will host a thermo power plant and a hydrocarbons terminal.

Following results of the siting study in 2004, the World Bank’s International Development Association, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank agreed to finance a majority of the 110 million euro thermo power plant, a project promoted by the Albanian Electrical Energy Corporation (KESH). A recent investigation in 2007 by the UN Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee shows however that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for the 97 megawatt oil and gas fueled thermo power plant did not provide sufficient opportunities for the town of Vlora to participate in the scoping sessions and public consultations.

In addition to power plant construction, the Albanian government has also begun development of a coastal terminal for the storage of oil and byproducts and related infrastructure. In February 2003 the National Council of Territorial Adjustment approved construction for a terminal at the site of a former chlorine alkali and PVC factory contaminated with mercury and other chemicals and inhabited by dozens of families. In May 2004, an Italian company- La Petrolífera Italo Rumena- received a project concession for one euro to build and operate the 50 million euro terminal on public, ocean-front property, which would become exclusively Italian after a 30-year period. The company is currently seeking 15 million euros in financing from the EBRD under a due diligence process which involves consultations on the EIA process. Public comments and the quality review of the EIA have revealed that the study lacks monitoring and management plans, it does not offer solutions to oil spills and hazardous wastes removal and underestimates the impacts on protected areas

Vlora citizens have long protested a lack of information about the projects and disregard for their opinions in decision-making processes. In response to their exclusion, Vlora residents formed the Civic Alliance for the Protection of Vlora Bay in March 2005 to communicate the environmental, social and health concerns related to project construction. These include:

• negative impacts on the local tourist industry, as the energy complex will destroy unique beaches in the area, through polluting emissions, discharge waters and possible oil spills;
• negative impacts on the local fishing industries, in particular more than 50 families in the village of Narta that depend on subsistence fishing;
• destruction of coastal ecosystems, including the protected Narta lagoon, and impacts on the Bay’s flora and fauna, and surrounding forests and wetlands; and
  
• little economic benefits for the city of Vlora at the price of a heavy environmental footprint  
  

Two requests for local project referendums submitted to the National Election Committee (NEC) have been denied. The first request initiated by the Alliance and supported with 14, 000 signatures against the energy and industrial park was rejected by the NEC in November 2005. The second request for referendum about the Petrolifera terminal,  submitted by the Vlora City Council to the NEC on October 9 2007 was rejected on procedural grounds.

In 2007 the World Bank and the EBRD approved investigations into controversies surrounding the thermo-power plant project, the results of which are pending. Since then the Civic Alliance has staged several rallies and protests against this construction. The Alliance hopes the government will stop oil and energy projects in the Vlora Bay and support the development of Vlora’s tourism potential.  

For more details on the project visit Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Bay of Vlora' s website .