The Artificial Lake Park in Tirana is turning into the favorite building site of the Municipality of Tirana. After the construction, in violation of the Aarhus Convention and a series of national laws, of the children's playground and the plans to build a hotel, it now appears that Mayor Veliaj is planning to turn the park completely into an urbanized zone.
Even though only school buses are allowed to enter the park, as signaled by a sign at its entrance, personal cars have been using the park throughout the day freely without a policeman in sight.
All these interventions into the Lake Park are happening under a regime of complete intransparency. There is no information sign at the beginning of the work site, as required by law; there is no information available of which company is doing the work; there is no information on when the work is supposed to be finished; and finally, the Municipality of Tirana has failed to organize public hearings about these interventions, as required by the Aarhus Convention and the Law on Public Hearings.
