In March 2017, the Parliament approved the loan agreement between the Albanian government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the reconstruction of the Tirana-Rinas-Durres railway.
Albania will benefit €35.5 million for the reconstruction of the 34.5km long Tirana-Durres railroad, and construction of the Tirana-Rinas rail segment, 5km long.
This funding will be made by the European Union’s Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), a fund created by the EU to support the European Initiative for Balkan Integration launched by Chancellor Merkel three years ago. The decision was made public at the Paris Summit held at the beginning of the week.
The EU funding will cover a part of the total cost of the railroad project, which is estimated at €81.5 million. The project will be co-funded with a soft loan of €32.9 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and about €13 million from the state budget.
This investment will make possible train travel with a speed of 120 km/h.
The project is scheduled to start in mid 2017 and be completed by 2020.
According to Monitor, EBRD experts have predicted that around 1.4 million passengers will be transported yearly.
At the construction stage, approximately 1,375 direct and indirect employees will be hired, while during the operational phase, the number will reach about 2,200. The value of savings from the citizens, has been calculated at €55 million euros per year.
But this information looks more like an obvious proof of a carefully crafted lie to justify an unnecessary, wrong, and futile investment that will cost Albanian citizens and taxpayers huge amounts of money for the return of a useless institution, such as the Albanian Railroad, which according to the 2014 balance sheet for every income in lek has spent fivefold more.
Even if the trip is free, so that 1.4 million citizens save €55 million euros a year, they should save today at least 500 lek, meaning the Tirana-Durres line ticket should be 500 lek today.
If this project is to employ 2, 200 people, to the €55 million saved, we need to add €8 million of salaries, increasing costs to 580 lek per trip, without taking into account the depreciation and the cost of energy.
So, only with the staff costs the ticket would cost 80 lek per trip.
But, currently, the journey from Tirana to Durrës costs the following:
The train costs 100 lek per person (Kashar – Durres train ticket costs 70 lek and the Kashar – Tirana bus ticket costs 30 lek)
- The bus costs 150 lek
- The van costs 200 leks
- Taxis cost 2000 to 2 500 lek.
The absurdity is that it would cost less to the government to pay a taxi for every three travlers, rather that administering the railway with all its staff.
The use of a taxi would also be in favor of the passenger, who could stop at the desired destination, something impossible with the train.
Despite numerous efforts by various governments, the Albanian railway reconstruction has failed.
In 2006, Berisha’s government, in order to avoid an expensive project but which would improve our transportation infrastructure, canceled the contract with General Electric and ended up paying nearly 40 percent of the project costs as a reimbursement for the cancellation action.
This is the classic case in which investments in Albania are only valued for their immediate and private impact, and end up producing more debt than development.
