Residents of Nikaj-Mërtur in the Albanian Alps protest against the construction of three dams on the Mërturi River

More than 300 residents of the Nikaj-Mërtur region in Tropojë, together with environmental activists, protested on July 5, 2026, against a KESH (Albanian Electric Power Corporation) project that plans the construction of three dams/barriers on the Mërturi River; a river that, to this day, remains one of the least disturbed waterways of the Albanian Alps and one of the country’s natural treasures.

Work on the project began roughly three weeks ago, without any prior consultation with local residents and without a single information panel installed to explain the nature of the works. The residents’ concerns were first raised publicly by Besnik Palnikaj through the local outlet Nikaj Mërtur News; he became the voice of the protest and mobilised residents, who gathered today for a peaceful demonstration near the Mërturi bridge. “In this project, the Mërturi River has been classified as a stream, treating the intervention as necessary and lawful, while there has been no transparency at any stage of the design process. We believe the river must not be touched, and we are calling for this project to be reviewed and for residents to be included in public consultations,” he said.

The Lekbibaj Administrative Unit had initially announced a public hearing for 29 June, which was later postponed to 5 July—the same day as the protest planned by residents. Because of the community mobilisation, the hearing was cancelled, giving way to the protest instead. The Head of the Administrative Unit joined the residents at the protest, stating that he stands with them in demanding transparency about the project.

In just a few days, excavators have stripped away more than 1 km of the Mërturi riverbed, diverting its flow and creating access roads for machinery. “The construction of these dams along the course of the Mërturi River risks the irreversible alteration and damage of its riverbed. This is one of the many interventions Albania is doing on its rivers, which has led to a 28% reduction in natural flow in just the last seven years. At a time when in-depth studies are needed to assess the environmental damage from interventions already carried out, we cannot continue with projects that harm rivers in the absence of such studies,” said Besjana Guri, Executive Director of LUMI, who joined the residents’ protest. A week earlier, she had already raised this concern publicly on the 27th day of The Flamingo Revolution national protest in Tirana.

Residents of the area said that what is happening to their region is an intervention against their will and their own vision for developing tourism in the area, and they are convinced this serves neither nature nor themselves. Just one day before today’s protest, the construction machinery withdrew from the riverbed. Nevertheless, residents decided to go ahead with the planned protest, declaring their determination to protect the Mërturi River.

The Nikaj-Mërtur region has held the status of Regional Natural Park since 2014 and lies at the heart of the Albanian Alps—an area of high natural tourism potential and rich biodiversity.