Ever since the Albanian government launched its initiative to demolish the existing port of Durres to give the land to Arab businessman Alabbar, many experts warned that this risky venture could leave Albania without the country's largest trading hub. Apparently, these warnings are being proven true.
The Albanian government continues to indefinitely postpone the deadlines for the start of construction work on the new port in Porto Romano, while the existing port assets are dismantled every day by the Alabbar project.
In December 2022, Prime Minister Edi Rama hosted his Kosovo counterpart, Albin Kurti, and his North Macedonian counterpart, Kovačevski, at a special event to present the project for the new commercial port in Porto Romano. According to the official announcement of the Prime Minister's Office, construction work on the port would begin within 2023.
"This work begins today precisely because the conditions are finally ripe for us to have a commercial port worthy of the 21st century, not like the one we inherited from past centuries, a scenography of the New Albania Film Studio, an abandoned platform of a socialist realism film," said the prime minister.
The year 2023 passed and the construction works for the Port did not start. In 2024, the Albanian government budgeted 86 million euros for the construction of the new port in Porto Romano, but the funds were burned and the works did not start. The year 2025 is already ending and the works have not started again.
But that's not all. Now the government is changing its statements about the deadlines for the start of work almost every day. Three weeks ago, the Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku introduced the new director of the Port Authority, Liburn Aliu. During the presentation, she also spoke about the start of the construction of the Port.
"5 companies have competed and on January 31 we will have the winner. The contract negotiation will continue with the aim of starting the construction of the new port within 2026," said the Deputy Prime Minister.
But less than three weeks later, the deadlines were extended again. This time, it was Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Enkelejda Muça, who announced the new deadlines.
"Work on the construction of the new commercial port in Porto Romano is expected to begin in 2027, while the offers submitted by the companies participating in the tender are currently being reviewed," said Muça during the discussion of the draft budget in the Parliamentary Committee on Economy.
As the deadlines for the construction of the Port are indefinitely postponed, Albania is threatened by the unannounced scenario of the destruction of the country's most important trade hub, giving neighboring competing economies an invaluable strategic advantage. If this scenario materializes to the end, then all this will not be just another of the government's many corrupt affairs, but a genuine act of national treason.
Editorial
