The competition for the construction of one of the most important projects for Albania and the region, the New Port of Durrës, which will be moved from its current location in the center of the city to Porto Romano, with increased handling capacities to respond to the ever-increasing flow, was opened today.
Prime Minister Rama, who participated in the opening ceremony, said that this port enhances Albania’s power and makes it a key strategic point for trade and security of the entire region.
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Hello everyone!
This is another very important moment for us and for me personally because when we say we will do this or that and when it comes to projects like this, an entire sea stands between saying and doing.
Projects do not begin when they are published, as they do today, in the form of calls for interest from companies. Big projects start with the desk process of collecting data, bringing together the group of experts, designing and opposing. It is a story that lasts much longer than the desire and sometimes more than the limits of patience, as normally citizens listen and wait and patience is not among the virtues of Albanians and secondly, in our times is one of the rarest goods.
But on the other hand, it is quite understandable for Albanians, because they have waited a lot, extremely long, they have waited for centuries to finally make their choice, they have always lived under the yoke that results from others choosing for them. And for the first time in history, in the last 30 years or so, Albanians are living by their choice. They have chosen for this country to finally become part of the united family of free and democratic countries.
But on the other hand, from making the choice to getting solutions is another story, because the past is a very big burden for us in all meanings.
Our past is the same as the port of Durres in the center of the city. A port that is a disgrace, an environmental and physical disgrace that has continuously done great damage to the perspective and the image, but also a disgrace in socio-economic terms, because we know too well that all this mess and all this chaos for many and many years has also been a dark area of illegal and criminal activities.
The removal of the port of Durres from the city center and its placement here, with a totally new typology, characteristics and dimensions, is the opening of a new chapter in the history of the city and for the history of our national economy and our national security.
In addition, this project has a very big guarantee, it has the guarantee of one of the most excellent companies that the world has, the Royal Haskoning Company, that was founded in 1881 by two Dutch gentlemen who united their surnames in the name Haskoning and that in 1981 turned 100 years old and on its 100th anniversary it received the title Royal from the King or Queen of the time, and Royal Haskoning has given us the opportunity to have one of the most impressive masters in world of marine engineering and technology, which is Eric, who spoke a little earlier.
Royal Haskoning has accompanied us throughout this project and what is most important for us is that Royal Haskoning will accompany the project as a partner of the Albanian government to supervise it entirely from the international competitions to the construction works that will be done in the port.
The sea has many species and it is known that the most feared species is the shark. To be very clear, the port construction companies are the land sharks.
I thank them for coming!
I am very happy that among the interested companies, we have 5, and even they are among the 5 largest in the world, which shows the interest this port constitutes, but the history of port development, which we have learned because of our duty, has shown that when these companies “find a space”, “they make a mess” so big that they double, triple, quadruple the initial value of the tender without any problem, if you don’t have shark fishermen on the ground.
Royal Haskoning has brought us the right fisherman to keep the sharks within the circle of rules and predictions. So, we will turn the shark into a dolphin that will give us a spectacle in the end and we will all come out victorious and happy. It’s not that they are necessarily sharks, they know how to play a dolphin beautifully, but if you allow them, they immediately turn to sharks.
The next point I would like to make is that a port affects up to 3 percent of a country’s gross national product. The one we have there, in the middle of Durrës – which is a great national shame that will finally be hidden – has a funny impact. This one is going to be, not only a port that’s going to affect the overall national production, but it’s going to be a port that’s going to affect our security, because as the design team has foreseen and as Eric has led us in this process, it’s also going to have its own military wing, offering NATO a new military base, not just new in the sense of another base in the Mediterranean, but a new military base with optimal parameters.
Eric mentioned it a little, I was also discussing with the big boss of the company – whom I thank for coming, but we recognize Erik as the big boss in all cases, to be clear – this port that is being built from scratch is a new port in Europe after many, many decades, because Europe has built them a long time ago and has continuously made expansions and adoptions, but for 1001 reasons it has not built new ports and that is why we are fortunate to be at the end of this long column, able to take advantage of the knowledge that has been built over the years, in the environmental and green aspects as well, and to have a port that is exemplary of excellence.
The next point is the great strategic importance of this port for Albania in 2030 and beyond, because this port gives Albania a new power in the region, this port makes Albania a key strategic point for trade and for the security of the entire region. This port, which will continue to connect trade with the rest of the region and beyond through the railways that we will build and through the two dry ports that will be built in Pristina and Struga, will practically redirect many trade flows and exchanges that today are outside our sphere of influence.
Certainly, the port will bring quality, well-paid jobs, that is indisputable, and the port is another argument and another reason for us to move faster with the new reform that we are doing for vocational training, and meanwhile it is another reason to say to the Albanians who are currently working in Greece, I am taking Greece as an example because it is our closest neighbor, but it is also the most meaningful reference, that while they are there, cleaning hotels, washing dishes, serving as waiters, working as cooks and involved in all the services related to tourism, they should come here without wasting time, because absolutely, taking note at the end of the month, here they will have more moreny left than they do there.
At the same time, to others who today are engaged with Greek port industry infrastructure, which is certainly very impressive, I say that soon Albania will offer them well-paid jobs to come back and stay here.
The last point I have is Durrës. Durrës, with this port, and the tourist port that is already under construction for the well-known project, and at the same time with the other projects that we are developing or that preparing to develop, will finally have all the weight that we want to give it and it will definitely gain the reputation, it will regain the reputation that it had in very old times when it was a point of reference, especially in our relationship with Italy.
The relationship with Italy is special for us.
We luckily have many friends but Italy is more than that. Everyone knows that, I don’t think it’s a reason to be jealous, although I have noticed that Albania makes everyone fall in love and then love pushes some through some strange jealousies. Even Dutchman fall in love, and the Dutch are not known for falling in love because the love of the Dutch goes through accounts, being the greatest traders in the world and being magicians who through trade have made such a small country so influential, a country so extraordinary in success, in terms of economy, in terms of income, they have always put love second and it has generally gone through the account.
However, Erik said it and the fact that a Dutchman says it means a lot – because they never say it at all – not that “I fell in love with Albania”, but we have found that Albania entered Erik and conquered a small, but strategic part of him, of his thinking space as a Dutch trader, which has also influenced the company because the contract we signed with the it for the supervision of the works is a very good contract for us, given the initial requirements that were higher.
This gives us hope that if we keep Erik here for another 3-4 years, half of you will become Albanian and that will be very good for Albania. You can create a problem with the company in the Netherlands, but you can solve it yourself, because you have the opportunity to keep those concessions that you can make from time to time.
Joking aside, which in this case is much more than half the truth, I would like to thank, not for formality – I never do it – to friends who are here, the Ambassador of the Netherlands, the Ambassador of Italy, the Ambassador of France, for the fact that they are not here formally, but they are here because they have supported us to convey to the big companies of their countries this new opportunity in the maritime industry of the Mediterranean.
In particular, I would like to thank the Dutch Ambassador for the fact that being the other side of this process, that is, the consulting side, which is in partnership with the Albanian government, the Dutch have been very important, the support of the Dutch government through the Ambassador, and in fact, I want to say the whole thing, it has been very important for me personally and for us, because the Netherlands is the most rigorous country when it comes to accepting the progress of others, the most difficult. It is well known that whoever wants to join the European Union has to make it even with the Dutch in the end. Others may get excited, but the Dutch…
The fact that we have Dutch excellence here shows that when it comes to Dutch companies, when it comes to Dutch troops coming here, Albania is a perfect country. Come on, here you can do everything properly and according to the rules, and this is what I hear from the government and from the ambassador.
For us, this is recognition and it is a special pleasure. Thank you and I wish you good work and success to the companies. Today I remembered that this process with companies started a year ago in the Palace of Congresses when we presented the idea and 40 companies were there with their expert groups to follow this process. And here today are about 15 company representatives who have come to listen. The international tender is open, it’s on the portal, as Erik said, and take it seriously, take it with the conviction that it will be an absolutely transparent process, but don’t forget that you not only have us on your head, you also have the Dutch fishermen. So, choose the dolphin from the beginning and win all sides. Forget the shark, do it in some other country outside of Europe where there are a lot of ports being built.
Thank you very much!