Erdi Konda Composition II UNYT

Making Albania’s infrastructure better

The other day I was messing around with Google Earth. I wanted to take a look at my houses

from above. I started with Tirana first. While looking over, it getting a grip of my house was

very difficult, so I got in the middle and tried to follow the roads. I got confused and lost my

way a couple of times. After 10 minutes of searching, I finally located it. Finding my house in

Durres was a bit easier because I followed the seashore. While for my home in Lushnja I

gave up, because I couldn’t find it even after 20 minutes of searching around. I encountered

this much trouble by looking from satellites. Imagine finding my way on foot. But this

phenomenon does not happen in these cities only. It is very common in other cities as well

like, Saranda, Vlora, Fier, Elbasan etc. almost in all Albanian cities.

Schools are another problem. In villages and some cities the number of students in a

class exceeds fifty, not to mention those places that don’t even have schools. Even the

existing ones are in poor conditions. Universities lack sufficient room for all and they are

falling apart.

Hospitals are a major problem too. A few weeks ago I thought hospitals were ok,

since the Durrës hospital where I got my appendicitis operation was reconstructed not very

long ago. But, a few weeks ago, I went to visit my grandma who had had an operation in

Lushnja’s hospital and I was shocked. The rooms were filthy and the beds were in poor

conditions. In the terrace you could see some used needles that were thrown carelessly. There

were cracks on the walls.

Ancient areas that hold cultural values are devastated too. No one takes care of them.

Not too long ago, the news reported, on a 2000 year old cave that had graffiti written all over

and that children used it as a playground. This tells us that ancient sites aren’t protected as

they should be. Beaches, mountains and lakes are left in poor conditions, that’s why the

visitors to diminish for each passing year.

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All of this shows us one thing: Albania lacks a good infrastructure. Here everything is

confusing. I don’t order thing by mail because I don’t know my full address (in any of my

houses). I often turn the cab three or four times around the neighborhood where I have met

my friends, because getting a grip of the exact place is almost impossible. I often get lost in

the alleys while trying to take a shortcut. There is no exact map of Tirana with all the

information for the streets and places there because the cities are changing and expanding

without planning. No plans are made for constructing or protecting the places that hold

cultural value. Schools and hospitals are crumbling. Parks are vanishing, streets are

narrowing, apartment buildings are expanding, and everything here in Albania is getting

worse by the day.

It shouldn’t be like that. We have a chance to change it and we should start as soon as

possible. The longer we drag this problem the worse it will get. Many measures can be taken,

like urban pacification for cities, expanding parks and encouraging historical sites protection,

making new roads and streets, rebuilding existing hospitals or new ones, building new

schools etc. These measures should be taken by the local power and be encouraged by the

people themselves.

Cities in Albania are growing faster each passing day. We see construction sites

everywhere. Buildings are rising taller and taller day by day. So the most immediate action

that needs to be taken is to devise a better urban plan. The mayor of each city should employ

some architects so that they make a plan for the rising cities and control their growth each

year. Expansion should be controlled so all the parts in the city become prosperous.

Construction firms shouldn’t be allowed to build in every area. Last time I was in Durrës I

saw a traffic-light that was within a building. Apartments that share the same window are

normal in Tirana. People in big cities are feeling more and more restrained and air pollution

is getting everywhere because of these vast population in them, garbage increases and since

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Erdi Konda Composition II UNYT

every family nowadays has a car this also increases air pollution. 48% of the people asked

said that their actions as individuals affected climatic changes against 16% that said no, 20%

maybe and 14% that said I don’t know (A Poll posted in a website concerning the

environment)1. Urban planning would solve all these problems not immediately, but in 5

years it would certainly give results. But if the situation goes on like this, in 5 years there will

be no way to turn it around because the government can’t demolish 10 story apartment

buildings, so we should take action before they are built.

Streets and alleys should be reconstructed. This would make it easier for people to go

from one place to another. Increasing the quality of the roads would decrease the traffic in

Tirana and other big cities. It would also reduce the time that it takes to travel from one place

to another. Albania is a small country so instead of a six hour trip to Saranda, it should be a

three or four hour trip to go there. There was a raise of 0.2% in founds that the government

invested on the roads (from the Statistic institute of Albania). 2Although changes have been

made in Albania they weren’t made in the right direction. The government made a huge

investment on the Durrës - Kukes - Morine freeway. “The road is two times shorter than the

previous existing” (Department of transportation)3 .This freeway should have been built, but

not that large and not that expensive. With the money that were put in that freeway, all the

mini roads and streets of all Albania could have been built, in all the villages. We could have

built 80 new schools and 20 hospitals, which we need and would use much more that

freeway4. The government should be more careful with its investments and where they put

them. They should invest more in all roads. Making Albania’s transporting network large is

the first step to be taken. And why not try to revive the railroad system sometime in the

future.

1
“Do you think your actions as an individual affect the environment “poll. Retrieved June 2, 2009 from
http://mjedisisot.info
2
Retrieved June 2, .2009 from http://instat.gov.al
3
“Durrës – Kukes- Morine “ road description. Retrieved June 2,2009 from http://www.mpptt.gov.al/rruga.php
4
This numbers were taken from numerous press conferences of different politicians

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So let’s talk a bit about schools. Every day we see at the TV what happens to the

students in them. Every year two or three schools ceiling falls apart hurting so the poor

students. “The ceiling falls apart 110 students are saved” was the head of an article written in

the newspaper “Koha Jone” in March 3, 2009. But this is only one of the many articles that I

can present about this problem. Classes of fifty people are normal now. Universities are not

enough for all so even if you have an average grade you can’t get in the major you want

because the campus can accommodate only a certain amount of students. The fact is that

schools in Albania are in poor conditions and that the government should built more schools.

The money spent for an expensive freeway that could have been reduced with the building of

a normal one should have been used to build more schools. Student’s grades and willingness

to learn are affected by the poor conditions where they study. Most schools don’t even have a

library. They study in classrooms that sometimes don’t even have glass on the windows. New

schools should be built. Existing ones should be reconstructed and the budget that goes for

education should be increased. New investments should be made for the future generations so

that they study in more appropriate conditions.

Hospitals are a problem too. Existing ones are filthy and small, no heating system.

The beds are in poor conditions, the walls are cracked. The tools that the doctors use are

outdated and almost none of the hospitals have a park some trees at least. They are usually

located in the city surrounded by buildings. If you want to have a difficult surgery you should

go abroad because here none of the hospitals have the equipment or the operating rooms

suitable for them. So why doesn’t the government spent a bit more on constructing new and

larger hospitals and with more updated equipment and possibly close to green areas. Many

cities lack a proper one so why let those citizens suffer during the 2 hour of travel to the next

city’s hospital.

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Erdi Konda Composition II UNYT

But the most problematic issue is tourism. Albania is a beautiful place. It has every

kind of tourism: Alpine, historical, cultural and even summer tourism in its beautiful beaches.

But all of these beauties are going wasted. The lack of infrastructure is the main problem.

There are many beautiful beaches that can’t be reached because no roads leading you there.

Many places in the south beaches need you to walk your way to them. That’s not the only

problem though. Most of the beaches are falling apart because of the many apartment

buildings that are invading the shores. This phenomenon brings up many problems. First of

all constructing sites produce a lot of pollution and many of the workers there are not willing

to put the garbage in the appropriate places. So they get all piled up at the shores. The

buildings are so close to the sea that they become unsafe because sand is unstable near the

shores and also they don’t let the tourists or locals to enjoy the beaches since they block most

of them. The government should issue new laws, made to specifically protect these areas. For

the polluter they should apply huge fines like they do on other European countries.

Archeological sites are also threatened. Many of the houses in Durrës and other

ancient cities have precious artifacts buried beneath them. Since no study has been done

nobody wants to do anything for those, they are lost and doomed not to see the light of the

day anymore. What is more alarming is that even in the existing agrological sites buildings

are spawning over them. Cultural and agrological places are being ripped off their values. So

the government should focus on these issues too. They should try to clean the beaches and

make a wide promotion for many for the touristic locations. They shouldn’t give allow

building in certain areas like they did in “Syri i Kalter”5. The government should increase the

funds given to certain areas of Albania to increase alpine tourism, lake tourism etc. They

should do a better job in conserving the existing areas by increasing security and by not

allowing any more constructions there.

5
As it was described in an article published in “Shqip” newspaper May 14, 2009 by Thoma Nika

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Erdi Konda Composition II UNYT

Albanian’s infrastructure needs a lot of work. But we have an advantage. Since we are

in a period where cities are growing than we need to make plans for their expansion. We need

to improve our public service buildings like hospitals and schools. We need to distribute the

incomes in a better way, and not concentrate them only on massive freeways. We need to

boost up our tourism because that can be one of our major income sources. Boosting up out

tourism means building new streets that lead to the sites and not allowing the existing ones to

be destroyed by the ever-growing constructions.

Making Albania a better place is really easy if we all want it and if we all put our

minimum efforts in it, but we should start in it now before cities take deformed shapes and

the process in irreversible. The infrastructure is the basic and most important thing that we

should change. Let’s start it today for a better tomorrow!

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