The speech of the Deputy Prime Minister, at the same time Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku at the international symposium “Challenges and innovations for safe dams”

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Greetings to everyone.

It is a pleasure to be here with you today. I want to thank all the guests and collaborators of KKDM. All international relations significantly influence the increase of experience and the creation of the right contacts to move forward.

It is often important to identify the problems, but when I heard Arjan identify, for example, the regulatory problems we have or the law, one of the tasks that KKDM has is undoubtedly to work on pertains to the regulatory framework and in terms of everything that determines the operation of dams in the Republic of Albania, which you very rightly said is one of the countries with the highest number of dams per 1 million inhabitants or per square kilometer. So I would officially ask the KKDM today that in addition to participating in conferences, which are obviously important because they bring knowledge, it should obviously have a more active role in terms of dams in Republic of Albania.

The European experience is valuable, but we also have a very good experience, which is that of the Albanian Electricity Corporation. The Drin Cascade, in my not-so-little knowledge, after 6 years of running the energy sector in the Republic of Albania and knowing that cascade like the back of its hand, is a masterpiece of the hydropower system and, moreover, it is a masterpiece of the dam system. Undoubtedly neglected, but years ago it underwent very important interventions that Mr. Jovani and all the members of the KKDM know even better than I do, that there have been important interventions both for the maintenance of these dams and for their electromechanical system.

So the Republic of Albania has taken an important step forward. Initially, with the identification of all dams in our territory, divided by size, into large dams, medium dams or small dams. Dams that produce energy and are a ‘case study’ in terms of hydropower, or dams that are located in our reservoirs that undoubtedly also need to be maintained, to be reconstructed, but on the other hand, they are a work of art on how the entire Republic of Albania managed to be irrigated through reservoirs since the beginning of the 70s.

If there is something that we must change today, and here I am referring to the sector of dams used by agriculture, we must intervene in the sewage system. The sewerage network connected to the reservoirs, which obviously also due to informal constructions, due to a 30-year transition, has suffered significant damage. It is in the government’s plans to rehabilitate this network, given that agriculture continues to be one of the most profitable sectors in the country’s economy, with a tremendous impact on Albanian export figures.

We closed last year with 500 million euros of exports and we are asking that by 2030 the exports of agricultural products alone reach 1 billion euros, making the agricultural support infrastructure very important.

We should not neglect and note some important steps that we have taken, since while we have monitored the dams, we have analyzed and inspected to have a clear plan of their physical condition is today, since we have dams which their construction started in the 50s and most of them, as Mr. Jovani said, are over 50 years old, but on the other hand, we have taken a number of measures to identify the problems or even to rehabilitate them.

More attention is needed. The work is never finished, but the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy in the total change of 10 years ago has given special attention to dams. I have personally sat down with the members of the KKDM to understand the whole issue, as we have identified that the KKDM is not there only for the dams, but is there to offer us further advice, as the dams are closely related to the floods. One of the solutions that we have given through the analyzes and studies that the Albanian Electric Corporation has done, obviously with the support of KKDM, has been the solution to the problem of flooding in the area of Shkodra. All of these are connected in a continuous chain with civil emergencies, which must be prepared for all the problems that may come from excessive flows that are discharged into the Drin cascade or other cascades.

Today, the biggest challenge lies in the ecological system. Throughout the natural ecological cycle which has significantly changed. This is the second year with high flows in the Drin cascade. An open mind is needed. European and international best practices must be adopted in terms of handling dams based on all the new climate data that is being collected all over the world as unforeseen phenomena are occurring and in locations that were previously unpredicted.

I want to thank the President of CFBR, Mr. Aelbrecht, in his speech I heard one of the strategies of the Albanian Government which is obviously a concern for Europe. I meet the members of the KKDM, I talk to the experts I have in the ministry, I want, without wanting to offend anyone because I myself am old, to say that we are not producing new generations of experts. Passing the baton to the new experts is very important. If we do not open the doors to young men and women with the idea that they do not know as much as we do, it would be the biggest mistake that would happen in any sector, but especially in the dam sector, which I identify with great concern that we have no new experts. This is a problem that must be solved by the Government, the Ministry of Education by sector institutions through incentives, but in the event that we don’t have young men and women entering this very important sector, this is something very dangerous that must change immediately.

Arjani spoke clearly and correctly, but I would ask Arjani and all the members of KKDM, it is easy to identify the problems and leave them in the middle of the room, but it is very important that we all come together to solve them. And it is lucky for us today that we have excellent cooperation with international institutions, with European institutions that have extensive experience in this field. But we are the ones who built those dams under the most difficult conditions during communism. Imagine what we can do today with technology, with the good will and with all the will of the Albanian Government to completely change this country.

I thank you very much today for being here, I would stay here very willingly because, as I told you, it is a sector that I have entered deeply for 6 years and it has turned into a passion and not just a job, but today is parliamentary day and I also have other tasks where I have to represent the Government in the parliament, but also to all the voters.

I wish you a very successful and fruitful day.

Thank you very much.