Murriz Tunnel was not opened by the end of this year. The project, which began in 2019, is still under construction, leaving the Arbri road unfinished as well. Contrary to previous promises, the prime minister stated that the tunnel is expected to open in the spring, a timeline that coincides with the parliamentary elections.
Esmeralda Topi
Excavation work at the end of last year marked progress one of the largest public projects, the Murriz Tunnel. The joining of the two sides of the 5-year-long construction project was accompanied by the promise that the entire work would be completed by the end of this year.
‘…today’s progress is a strong reason to believe that 2024 will mark the completion of this very challenging project,’ promised the prime minister on the eve of the 2023-2024 New Year’s celebration.
The Murriz Tunnel is the most crucial infrastructural section of the Arbri road, which was opened for traffic even before the entire segment was finished.
Fact
As the deadline for the completion of work on the Murriz Tunnel approached, Faktoje.al traveled to Dibra to closely observe the progress.
On December 12, the construction site remained open, and work was still ongoing.
Murriz Tunnel, 12 December 2024
While waiting for an official response from the Ministry of Infrastructure about the progress of the work, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced yet another delay.
In his traditional end-of-year conference with journalists, Rama explained that due to geological issues, the Murriz Tunnel is now expected to open in the spring.
‘We are really hopeful that in the spring, but I don’t want to say more about that tunnel, because we’ve truly faced some major difficulties there, it will finally open,’ stated the prime minister.
The concession contract for the Arbri road was signed in 2018, and work on the Murriz Tunnel began a year later. With the new deadline, the project is expected to be completed after six years.
Delays like these are explained differently by experts compared to the government. One of the reasons, according to Eduard Gjokutaj from the ALTAX center, is the absence of thorough analysis in the early stages of the project.
‘If technical studies aren’t conducted properly, projects often face major challenges during execution. Equally important is whether there was strict oversight of the project and contractors, as this could also have played a role in prolonging the timelines,’ Gjokutaj explains.
‘The delayed project could also be used as an argument to improve government performance on the eve of elections, offering a ‘planned achievement’ to be showcased in the spring,’ adds Gjokutaj.
According to him, in order to avoid the repetition of such cases, reforms are needed in monitoring infrastructure projects, improving institutional capacities, and increasing accountability in PPP contracts.
6 years of work…
Murriz Tunnel is 3.7 kilometers long. According to the new timeline, the completion of the tunnel is expected in the coming spring.
Work began in May 2019, but the project has seen slow progress. The government has explained this delay due to the challenging geology.
Next year, the implementation of the concession contract for the Arbri road will officially enter its seventh year, consuming half of the 13-year term with the Albanian government.
The company awarded the concession for the Arbri road has already received over half of the financing, exceeding 12 billion LEK. In the next three years, the budget plans to allocate an additional 10 billion LEK.
Conclusion
Based on the verification conducted, we categorize the prime minister’s promise that ‘2024 will seal the end of Murriz Tunnel‘ as an unfulfilled promise.
