FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
For days, the Librazhd–Qafë Thanë road segment has remained blocked, isolating the southeast of the country and forcing citizens to use alternative routes through North Macedonia or from Moglica, segments that take up to five hours to reach the capital.
The cause of this situation was the collapse of the existing bridge, while work was being done to expand this national axis. Initially, the bridge suffered cracks, and then an emergency measure was taken to open an alternative road adjacent to it. But this intervention also proved unsuccessful, as the alternative segment also collapsed.
Drone footage shows the eroded river near the bridge, massive soil displacement and damage to train tracks as a result of the landslide.
Geologist Sazan Guri describes the situation as a catastrophe on the horizon. According to him, interventions in the riverbed near the bridge and in an area with a sharp bend have been the main cause of the destabilization of the terrain.
"How can permission be given for erosion in such a position, next to the bridge and the railway? This is the main reason for the landslide," he says, adding that geological examinations are no longer carried out as before. According to Guri, it is necessary for the Albanian Geological Service to carry out mandatory examinations for such major projects.
But when asked by Fiksi, the director of IKMT Elbasan states that the firms that have carried out the erosion are equipped with permits and that inspections have shown that they have not gone outside the approved coordinates. “We do not know why this situation happened, but the erosion is within the coordinates,” he says.
The segment in question, part of Lot 4, includes three tender procedures: Design, with a fund limit of 53 million lek, won by the company "Infraconsult shpk", which also includes topographical and geological studies.
The implementation of the works, worth around 2.5 billion lek, or at today's exchange rate, over 25 million euros, was earned by the "ANK" company.
Supervision, with a fund of 24 million lek, by "A & E Engineering".
The administrator of the design firm, Redi Struga, states that his company carried out the project and the study, but is not responsible for the implementation or for the erosion of the river. He admits that there was no opposition from geology and emphasizes that his company was only in the design phase, not in supervision.
The fix also addressed the Geological Survey, where the director stated that the institution had no official knowledge of the project and that the documentation did not come for opposition, as was the case before.
"Legally, we didn't know that a road was being built there. We don't have an archive, they don't bring us documents for archiving. We don't know where they're digging and how much they're digging," he says.
Even urban planner Imeld Selimi raises some serious questions about why this situation happened. Were full geological surveys conducted? Why wasn't the existing road reinforced during the construction of the new segment? Why aren't the retaining walls made of reinforced concrete? Was a study conducted for the construction of the site? Were emergency scenarios foreseen?
According to him, if these steps had been followed properly, the situation could have been avoided.
Fiksi also contacted the ARRSH to get some answers, but representatives of this institution did not give an official response, stating that the director was on the ground. Meanwhile, after the road collapsed, drilling and geological measurements have begun on the ground, as the head of the institution himself states.
But these measurements are being carried out after the road collapsed and after the works had long begun, while, according to experts, this should have been the first step before the launch of any project.
The collapse of the Librazhd–Qafë Thanë segment has raised strong doubts about the quality of studies, institutional control and the manner of implementation of a project worth millions of euros./ TCH
Po Si Sazani dhe inxh gjeologë merren me lloqe se institutet ku punonin u mbyllën