On February 18, the Albanian government organized the Ministerial on Corridor VIII with the presence of state officials from Italy, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania. Former Foreign Minister Elisa Spiropali described the project as a “strategic asset for European connectivity and security” and Albania’s role in this project as “one of the most reliable nodes.”
But before the glow of the photos of the event had faded, one of its main road axes, Librazhd-Pogradec, suffered severe damage, blocking communication with the southeast of the country for almost ten days.
Immediately after the event, the Elbasan Prosecutor's Office announced that it had set up an investigative group to investigate the circumstances that caused the blockage of this road and to initiate criminal proceedings for the criminal offenses of "Abuse of office", "Violation of equality in public tenders or auctions", "Destruction of the road" and "Pollution of air, water or land".
The government has not taken any responsibility for the event, blaming the geological composition of the land, while the collapse of this road axis adds to other infrastructure works invested in recent years, which have suffered damage.
The blockade of the national road to the Southeast has not only created problems for the people, but also for the economy and security of the country. According to the Confederation of Albanian Industries, this blockade was “the most severe blow in peacetime to the economy and national security.”
Economic experts also share the view that this blockage has major consequences for the country's economy and is related to mismanagement of infrastructure investments and the lack of a clear government strategy.
Zef Preçi, director of the Albanian Center for Economic Research, also calls the collapse "a real alarm for national security."
"There is a need for in-depth technical, political, and legal analyses of what is happening in public infrastructure as a whole and of the large funds that have been and are being given largely without competition and widely suspected of being corrupt," he said.
Strategic or propaganda asset?
Corridor VIII was conceived as a strategic East-West axis that would connect the Adriatic Sea with the Black Sea, functioning as a key economic driver for EU integration, regional stability and trade. For Albania, the benefits were projected to strengthen the country's role as a maritime gateway, transit hub and regional logistics hub.
However, experts believe that the Albanian government sabotaged this project, despite propaganda about its importance.
According to Irena Beqiraj, a financial consultant, this project was initially damaged by the relocation of the Port of Durres to Porto Romano and the deviation of the Corridor VIII road line from the initial project in the last segment in the Albanian part.
These two moves, she says, "have not only increased costs, but will also delay the completion of the project, thus delaying the economic benefits."
Even political analyst Neritan Sejamini says that "the destruction of the Port of Durres and remaining without a proper port for several more years" is not only damaging to the country's economic integration, but also a blow to the very concept of Corridor VIII - in which the Port of Durres has a key and strategic role.
However, Sejamini considers the role of Corridor VIII, conceived in the 1990s, to be outdated.
"Subsequent economic and infrastructural developments have reduced the importance of this corridor. Trade with Italy, Greece, Kosovo, Turkey, Germany has more value for Albania than trade with North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Eastern Europe," he stressed.
Zef Preçi also believes that the treatment of this road as a strategic asset for the Albanian government remains only in declarative territory; without making sufficient efforts to finance it.
"Even where adequate financial support has been provided, as the damage to this road axis shows, corruption has severely undermined the effectiveness of the funds, thus compromising the good intentions declared by the Rama government," he stressed.
Prime Minister Edi Rama and his cabinet ministers parade on newly paved asphalt during every electoral campaign, touting investments worth hundreds of millions – even though some of them have been ruined with the first rain.
According to experts, road damage is related to the lack of projects, studies, and professional supervision, while their tenders are considered non-transparent and non-competitive.
According to Sejamini, the damage to the roads proves above all the "deplorable level of governance."
In the absence of a direct assessment of the damages, Sejamini says indirectly, billions of lek in damages can be estimated due to the destruction and blockage of the road on the Librazhd-Pogradec axis.
"Billions of lek in road investments that have already been zeroed out, tens of billions of lek in the cost of redoing these investments and other necessary repairs, and billions of lek in economic damage to traders, the tourism sector, transport and businesses in general," he said, without counting the human cost.
According to Irena Beqiraj, infrastructure problems highlight the lack of a clear strategy, while mismanagement has become the "modus operandi".
Based on a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, Beqiraj says that Albania invests around 400 million euros annually in road construction at an average cost of 12.9 million euros per kilometer – the highest cost in the region. Paradoxically, Albania risks remaining on the periphery of infrastructure development and connectivity.
"The figures show a truth that is difficult to deny," says Beqiraj, adding that the average depreciation of public works is 20% or several times higher than the world average, which ranges from 4.25 to 10.4%.
“… the costs at which roads are built are extremely high and the roads are poorly constructed. As a result, the infrastructure is unstable, requiring more frequent reconstruction,” she stressed.
Even for Zef Preçi, the collapse of the road under construction on the Librazhd-Pogradec axis cannot be seen as an isolated episode, but as "a corrupt economic phenomenon at a sectoral level."
"The fact that mainly roads built over the last decade have been damaged is a public accusation of corruption and misgovernance in the country during this period, of fraudulent and politically motivated projects, of the construction of electoral roads, of the companies of oligarchs who are clients of the government...," said Preçi.
Taken from Reporter.al
