Citizens from Peja have made a public call for urgent institutional intervention in Rugova, due to the ongoing risk of rock and soil landslides, which are endangering the safety of citizens and causing damage to vehicles.
According to citizens, the situation in Rugova should not be treated as a common natural phenomenon, but as a serious issue of public safety on a vital road for residents, tourism, and traffic.
They have requested urgent response on the ground and complete cleaning of the road, a technical assessment of the risk of recurrence of landslides, a concrete plan with deadlines for protection from landslides and avalanches, including nets, retaining walls and drainage, as well as transparency for the announced investment in this road. According to them, Rugova needs security and immediate action from the responsible institutions.
In a Facebook post, citizen Gresa Berisha called on the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, requesting "urgent response on the ground and complete cleanup", "technical assessment of the risk of recurrence", "a concrete plan with deadlines for protection from landslides and avalanches, including nets, retaining walls and drainage", as well as "transparency for the announced investment in this road".
Telegrafi contacted the spokesperson of the Municipality of Peja, Faik Zekaj, who stated that the road in question has been cleaned several times by local operators, within the framework of institutional cooperation. He added that the case of the collapse of rocks over the past weekend, where a car was damaged and four people were injured, among them two children, was viewed with great concern.
"We have been very concerned about the case and have made many requests to the Ministry of Infrastructure to maintain that section, since it is not the municipality's competence and we have no right to intervene, since it is not a local road."
"We have intervened in several cases, just to provide citizens with more security. We have unblocked the roads through local operators, who have gone there for the sake of the cooperation we have, because I said that that road should be maintained by the ministry."
"When there was snow, the operators went and cleared it, as citizens know that local roads are constantly maintained, but not national roads."
"There are several companies from other municipalities that maintain national roads, but we don't see those companies fulfilling their obligations."
The Peja-Kuqishte road axis is maintained by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, which is headed by the acting minister, Hysen Durmishi.
The Telegraph has also contacted Minister Durmishi, but has not received a response by the time of publication of this news. /Telegrafi/
