Written by: Ben Andoni
It happens as always in Albania. It is enough to have one event and the Albanian will understand that the entire relevant system is not functioning. Then the media starts 'working', specialists are called and in the multitude of problems that arise, it is understood that the role of each individual, but more so of those who lead, leaves much to be desired in terms of responsibility towards the country.
Yes, state formation is happening every day. And this last concept is not similar to Kosovo, where state formation is related to the construction and maturity of institutions and its full recognition in international institutions, but to how much we serve our state today and in the future. The country's infrastructure has shown these problems on a large scale, not simply in the quality of the works; the people who undertake the works; but also in the concept of how to work for long-term works; as well as ideas for the development of the country's regions. The blame lies mainly on the country's leading elites and, along with this, the public's perception of the choice of those who will lead them. Materialism is tiring Albania and researchers link the fact to historical aspects, the legacy of weak democratic institutions, turbulent economic situations and the historical tendency to milk the state for personal gain. The case of our country is such and this is proven by the anthropology of corruption, unaccountability, greed, etc.
The examples of weakness, lack of culture and lack of management that usually come from local government are endless, while the way the country is organized, but especially the politicians who lead it, only provide arguments for insatiability. Almost 90 years ago, one of the wise men of the country that we would have shot, at the dawn of World War II, Father Anton Harapi, wrote an article with our regret. It is called "Idealist without ideals" and the way he sees the country is truly sad. We are at a time (1936) that Albania, despite its backwardness, is entering the world of countries that seek development. Just like today, the clouds of war have gathered over the world. "As far as I can tell: Politics has embraced almost all aspects of human life. Now we don't just have state and national politics: politics has penetrated social, economic, etc., etc. life, it has even penetrated culture and is trying to take over moral life as well."
This is a real thing, because people are no longer discussing the fundamental meaning of life, either as individuals or as a collectivity; therefore, sociological and ethical knowledge has reached a wonderful development.
"Since then, the problem of life has been posed, but who is the man to solve it? This means that neither science nor technology is enough. Those who have become masters, leaders, organizers, people in power must start from a principle, from a political principle, towards which they themselves know that they cannot move. This is the rotating contrast of human society."
A colleague (Gjergj Erebara) recently explained the method and logic of road construction, introducing the centuries-old history of infrastructure development, especially what happened after the 2000s. The various road segments from Rrogozhina to Elbasan, Librazhd, Qukës and Qafë-Thane were built by different companies. And, he mentions how one company that was building the Rrogozhina – Elbasan segment, “had the urge to use stones from the Shkumbin River to save money. The reason why Roman roads and other stone buildings have survived for more than two millennia seems to have to do with the builders’ knowledge of the laws of physics. Stone can be broken, but it cannot be compressed. Its volume is constant.” The explanation that the author then gives is simple but very significant: “Road directors in transitional Albania have historically been political appointees, often unrelated to the road construction trade, but since the 2000s, deputy directors have usually been considered craftsmen in the field. And one of these craftsmen explained to the author of this article this second law of road construction: “River stones are round and smooth. Their coefficient of friction is low.”
In short, if you build a roadbed with river stones, the weight of the road itself, as well as the weight of the cars passing over it, will push the stones out of the bed, damaging the road. This is why, both in Egnatius' time and in our own time, mountain stones, broken with special machinery (or with the arms of slaves in the case of Ancient Rome), have served to be used to build long-lasting roads,” he writes.
The author of this article followed a different logic, but this time respecting the people of geology, those who have already been forgotten. One of them, very old, whose name we are not mentioning for ethical reasons and who headed the Albanian Geology, shows the situation that the current problem of the southeast road is that when there are such landslides, they will happen again. Therefore, historical works and the lessons about them should be carefully looked at, even though the mania for winning is now more than annoying and the greed for winning no longer knows limits. "It is a very narrow valley. From Librazhd to Prrenjas we have rocks called Mariaçe. They are very porous, crumbling and red. They are an unstable formation. But the most important thing is that they have not trained any specialists. Switzerland, Italy, Austria and even France have experience with such alpine roads. Don't forget that: Engineering Geology is one of the most difficult branches. They are simply firms that have Lek, but they have no idea about these jobs at all". I remember the professor, but I remember turning a deaf ear, as did my colleagues who, out of "respect" for characters like him, closed "Autor" at RTSH.
The experience of these people is truly "not necessary". I believe the professor and I remember that even a road built with 300 million euros suffered this fate. As for the way roads are built, I will ignore the SPAK interceptions, where the builders are both designers and supervisors, and even certifiers of the works they build themselves! Epilogue: All it takes is a little time that should have served as a test of durability and they break, like bread and fish. In addition to the important axis, the kart track suffered, the road to Erseka suffered, and specialists can count others. Therefore, the latter are now left to simply sigh. No one asks them anymore and they do the simplest thing. They leave. Albania ranks third in terms of emigration and educated population in 2023-2024 compared to 38 countries in the EBRD Region. You understand the bitterness of the figures when you read that after Albania are Bosnia, Palestine, countries that have been systematically affected by wars! And, the fact that over 23% of educated Albanians have emigrated in 2023-2024, where only 2-3% of them returned. This gives Albania one of the highest anomalies among the EBRD economies. Albania's idealists do not notice and even cannot feel the economic growth, the increase in the average salary, the fiscal amnesties, because the country has forgotten respect for them.
Materialism and greed are drowning our country. Again we are returning to Father Anton Harapi. In the same article, he writes for those who do not understand: “Modern life, our time, analyze it well, in the end, is undoubtedly materialistic. This is where the game of crises is: The current leaders must be materialist idealists. Two incompatible ideas, two irreconcilable works, two opposite extremes, which change and remain as far apart as heaven and earth. Idealists without ideals, why in the end materialists”. But why don't we change? Father Anton Harapi could not find the answer. A decade later, the bullet was waiting for him. He who can love his wider spread finds it in “Hylli i Dritës”, XX, 1936.
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