Retkocer: 55 waste locations cleared, calls from candidates wish it didn't serve as a political campaign.

In this matter and action undertaken by the Pristina Community for Waste Cleaning, in an interview for Online Economy, Public Services Director in the capital Leutrim Retkoceri said dozens of locations have been cleared so far.

Retkocer said that the large number of volume wastes came as a result of the Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry decision.

The reason why such a large volume of waste has been and has been seen, is because for two months, no volume and information waste from the capital has been seized, as the Environment Ministry has issued a decision that has blocked the deposit that has been in Matiscan for these waste. And companies couldn't send anyone else because they didn't even take it to the Mirasit cache”, he said.

He has also talked about steps the municipality has taken to manage the situation and address the long-term problem.

“We have taken all necessary steps to secure locations and the procedure to build a transit centre of waste volume, in which the waste waste is being collected and then they will be separated, classified and distributed into central depots as legislation requires in force. The event has been extremely well received by citizens. One phenomenon what has been observed is that in all neighborhoods, especially urban ones in the capital, warehouses or illegal waste are placed near containers by citizens who do not live in those neighbourhoods, unfortunately”, says Retkocer director.

Speaking of the current situation on the ground, Retkocer said dozens of problematic locations have been identified.

“From the Public Services team that we've been organized from Saturday, we've identified 72 locations. Of these, up until now, 55 locations have been completely cleared. There's also a small number of locations left and we'll soon get to the conclusion of those locations and we'll take care of maintenance, what we're looking for is the help of all the citizens and people who can contribute to identifying the perpetrators of these waste actions and on the other hand helping to locate the fastest of these countries where to intervene”, he points out.

As for Kurt's statement, he congratulated such statements not to serve as part of the campaign.

This has been necessary since. The call now in election campaigns by all who are candidates, I wish not to serve as a political campaign, but to be an awareness campaign that responds to the need as well. I, as soon as I mentioned it earlier, since the acting minister of Environment had issued a decision, along with the inspectors of this ministry, to stop and block a garbage dump, have seen calling for the city to be cleared and cleaned up. This doesn't work with each other. We should not be guided by policies which block the central level and the local level. We must be guided by the principle of best services for citizens, in order to fulfil the representative commitment we have received from citizens”, Retkocer added.

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti and incumbent Minister of Victory Pacolli have presented Wednesday the new package for the removal of illegal waste depots throughout Kosovo. During the presentation, institutional measures were unveiled to clean up public spaces and address environmental pollution through a new state action.

Kurti said the garbage situation is serious, and in some areas emergency may be considered, stressing the need for immediate institutional intervention.

He announced that a new bill and a national action has been prepared for this purpose, aimed at removing about 500 illegal warehouses across the country, with a budget of 1m euros.

On 16 May, the Public Services Directorate in Pristina has launched an action on the removal of volume waste. /Periscope