Ina Zhupa publishes video from the Bënja Baths: 2 million euros in public funds for an intervention that, she says, is destroying them

Ina Zhupa, a Democratic Party MP and at the same time chair of the Committee on Culture, Tourism and the Diaspora, has reacted in strong terms to the works carried out at the Bënja Baths, which she considers to be damage to one of Albania’s most important natural and tourist assets.

Through a public post, Zhupa shared video footage from the area and denounced what she describes as concretization and destruction, while stressing that around 2 million euros in public funds are being used for this project, which she says is harming the ecosystem and the natural character of the area.

She also points out that citizens are paying for a second time for interventions in Bënjë, since a previous investment worth around 200 thousand euros, according to her, did not produce results.

According to Zhupa, this natural asset needs protection, careful management and investments that respect its nature, history and identity, not concrete interventions and projects that risk damaging it.

Full statement

2 million euros from the Albanian Development Fund to destroy, with citizens’ money, one of Albania’s most precious natural assets is scandalous!

A citizen sent me this video, denouncing the alarming situation and the damage being done to the Bënja Baths, one of the country’s rarest natural and tourist gems.

The citizen informs me that every day there were vacationers with fractures or injuries being sent to the hospital in Përmet after falling in that area, until the Baths were closed last week.

The thermal springs, the Langarica canyons and the unique landscape have for decades been a special destination for Albanian and foreign visitors, an asset that should have been protected and promoted, not concretized and destroyed.

Worst of all, this is the second time citizens are paying for the same story of failure. The previous works cost around 200 thousand euros, but the results on the ground had nothing to do with the project presented. The project photos and the implementation photos are like night and day. The money was spent, but the investment failed.

Instead of demanding accountability for that failure and sending the case to justice, the Albanian Development Fund opened another tender titled “Integrated intervention to strengthen tourism potential in natural areas, Region 4: Bënja – International Tourist Destination,” with a limit fund of a full 2 million euros.

Instead of preserving nature, there is aggressive intervention in a unique ecosystem. The images speak of concrete construction that is destructive to the site.

This is not a restorative intervention, nor a carefully studied intervention in harmony with the ecosystem. This is misuse of public funds, lack of responsibility, and another example of how Albania’s natural assets are treated like ownerless property. First we pay for a project that is not properly carried out, then we pay again to correct the failure, and in the end nature comes out more damaged than before.

The Bënja Baths do not need concrete; they need protection, careful management and investments that respect their nature, history and identity.

Who will bear responsibility for the damage caused? Who will account for the hundreds of millions of lek spent while an irreplaceable natural asset is degrading before our eyes?