Natural gas was promised, but Korça continues to be heated with wood. Two years after the electoral campaign and the "fantastic news" about gasification, Faktoje.al found smoke, wood stoves and citizens who know nothing about the progress of the project on the ground. Documents show delays, high costs for residents and deadlines extended until 2027.
A few days before the people of Korça headed to the ballot boxes, the socialist mayor Sotiraq Filo, seeking a third term, promised a definitive solution to the heating problem through the city's gasification. "Fantastic news," as he himself called it, accompanied by a political guarantee from Prime Minister Edi Rama.
"The fantastic news of the final solution to the heating problem for Korça through the large GASIFICATION project was not coincidentally in Prime Minister Rama's speech today at his meeting in Korça with thousands of girls and women!", promised Filo.
During the campaign, Korçë residents were promised natural gas in every home, an end to firewood, cleaner air and lower costs. Prime Minister Edi Rama and Minister Belinda Balluku publicly presented the project, while Rama went even further, talking about “opening the gas key” and setting a deadline of the end of 2026.
But two years later, the promises are far from reality. Facto traveled to the southeast in October.
This year, heating in the city continued to be done with wood. The residents of the center and surrounding neighborhoods had no idea about the progress of the gasification project, neither about the deadlines nor about the concrete steps. What they knew for sure was the cold of the October evenings and the stoves that had to be lit early.
"We started turning on the stoves a month ago because it gets cold in the evenings," a resident told us.
Smoke was everywhere. Chimneys belched thick plumes that covered the streets and courtyards, turning the air of Korça into a heavy mixture of burning wood, proof that the promise of modern heating was still far from reality.
One cubic meter of wood this year cost 55,000 old lek.
"I need up to 15 meters," said a pensioner, calculating the winter that had not yet set in.
Violation of deadlines
In November 2024, the government announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding from Azerbaijan with the state-owned company SOCAR and Albgaz, presenting the gasification of Korça as the cornerstone of the development of the gas sector in Albania.
Even Filo, in public interviews, spoke of rapid implementation and visible results "within two years".
A year later, an official response from the Municipality of Korça indicates that the project is still in the pre-feasibility phase.
"The study by SOCAR has been completed, but the agreement between the Albanian and Azerbaijani governments is still awaited," the Municipality of Korça told Faktoje.al.
Without this step, there are no concrete deadlines and no field work.
Cost of gasification
Meanwhile, Albgaz's 10-year investment plan foresees the project launching in 2025 and delivery in 2027. So, later than the optimistic deadlines mentioned in the campaign and, as usual, with the risk of further postponements.
According to the baseline scenario, the total cost of gasification of Korça is around 20.8 million euros. Of this, 13.3 million euros are expected to be invested by the residents themselves, while the municipality foresees around 7 million euros for the replacement of current heating sources and related installations. In other words, the main financial burden falls on the citizens who today can barely afford winter wood.
The project envisages an extensive network of pipelines and stations, as well as the supply of gas to around 6,000 homes and 30 institutions. But even here there is a critical condition, the municipality must provide a budget for internal gas installations in schools, kindergartens, museums and public offices.
"It is critical to the success of the project that the Municipality provides a budget for the construction of internal gas installations for the institutions under its management (schools, kindergartens, museums, public offices), as these, together with industrial companies, will constitute the anchor consumers around which the main pipelines will be built," the plan emphasizes.
cONcluSiON
The gasification of Korça is listed as a priority project in the southeast area. On paper, everything looks promising. On the ground, chimneys continue to smoke, pensioners count the meters of wood and winter comes every year, without waiting for memos.
Until gas actually arrives in the homes of Korçë residents, the "fantastic news" remains an electoral promise, while heating continues to be measured in wood, smoke, and rising bills.
Based on the information collected and verification on the ground, we categorize Mayor Sotiraq Filo's promise to finally solve the heating problem through gasification of the city as unfulfilled. /Faktoje.al/
