Meta’s graders, bulldozers and dynamite in Llogara
The Prime Minister’s great challenge begins: the Vlorë–Sarandë road, 6 metres wide and 70 km long
In a few days, work begins on the 33 km Lezhë–Shkodër motorway, part of the Tiranë–Lezhë route
The Prime Minister’s great challenge begins: the Vlorë–Sarandë road, 6 metres wide and 70 km long
Meta’s graders, bulldozers and dynamite in Llogara
In a few days, work begins on the 33 km Lezhë–Shkodër motorway, part of the Tiranë–Lezhë route
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Paving the “rugged coast”
By ALEKSANDËR ÇIPA
Prime Minister Ilir Meta, who was yesterday at the highest point of the Akrokeraunian Mountains, near an Albanian Army engineer unit, officially announced the undertaking of an executive measure to bring the well-known Himara region closer to the country’s administrative centres. This is not a matter of shortening the geographical distance, but of an undertaking to improve the infrastructure of this area, which has been neglected for 85 years. The reconstruction work on the Vlorë–Sarandë road section—the first of its kind since the 1930s—marks the Albanian state’s belated return to recognizing the value of the Albanian Riviera. But, in any case, it is a return, and, as the well-known expression goes, “belated remembrance is proof of the importance of what is remembered.” Prime Minister Meta is thus the first head of the Albanian Executive to promote an investment aimed at changing the infrastructure in an area considered the pearl of Albanian tourism, a region of unique and authentic values, a land that conveys to national history the trials of endurance and unwithering virtue. It is the first time in the last 90 years that this country’s state administration has remembered that, in this place with a Mediterranean resonance, people of Pelasgian origin live and have remained. This belated remembrance is the revelation of the truth about the undeserved distance Himara’s people have experienced from their state administration. This administrative correction (related, but true, it must be said) is the first reason for the political imbalance of a distinct category of citizens in this region. In this latest undertaking, the Albanian state has finally carried out an act correcting an error, at a cost. Tomorrow, Himara will be only three hours from Tiranë, whereas for 85 years it has remained more than 5–6 hours away (depending on the speed of an ordinary vehicle). This act of bringing the two closer has value in many respects, but naturally also heightens the political impact of words being matched by deeds. Yesterday’s administrative action, conveyed in the words of this region, means: “Near the eye, near the heart,” which, in the direct sense, translates as bringing the country’s Centre closer to its forgotten peripheries. Meanwhile, the initiative of Defence Minister Gjinj to give the Albanian Army the opportunity to make an investment contribution, through undertakings of this kind on the country’s infrastructure, represents an administrative solution for making use of our resources and capabilities.
Prime Minister Meta yesterday in Llogara with the Army forces that will build the Vlorë–Sarandë road. Photo P. ILO