E fundit!

08:34 CRIME

Anti-drug operation in Kruja Highlands, Kruja and Thumana

Authorities have conducted a large-scale anti-drug operati...

Hydro-meteorological infrastructure/ Balluku: We need shorter time and deadlines, more innovation

2024-11-25 14:33:00, Aktualitet CNA

Hydro-meteorological infrastructure/ Balluku: We need shorter time and

Belinda Balluku

The Deputy Prime Minister and at the same time the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku participated in the conference for the launch of the ALBAdapt program with the German government, which aims to strengthen Albania's resilience to climate change.

Balluku stated that we need less papers and more innovation as he added that we need shorter time and deadlines for each study and project.

Belinda Balluk's statement

As Mirela also said, I am very sorry for the delay of a few minutes in the start of this activity, but of course it is a great pleasure when only on one day, such as today, Monday, we will be with a part of you at several tables , which are related to the coordination of works. As long as we are together, as long as we sit at different levels of central government, that of local government or our partners, who have come all this long way together with us, it means that we are on the right path , either when it has to do with civil emergencies, or when it has to do with economic development, diplomacy and everything else. The wider these tables are, the more important actors of Albanian and foreign society are at the tables, the faster the solution comes, the more comprehensive it is and what turns out to be important nowadays is to listen to each other.

We have lost the ability to listen. It also happens to you, I believe, that you are sitting at a table, and while you are talking, the person in front of you has thought about what the answer is, and no matter what you say, he will say his part. This is the worst thing that happens to us nowadays. So a call I would make to you for this meeting, listen to each other, pay attention, because each of you here, even an expert, who started the work two years ago may have something more interesting to say than someone who has over thirty years in the field. Sometimes new ideas, new trends, new blood can change some established frameworks that have not proven to be so successful.

Mirela said it very well that to be honest, we Albanians, the government, municipalities, prefectures, civil emergencies have not contributed to climate change. We have not contributed, because we have a system that produces 100% renewable energy. We have not contributed because unfortunately we have an underdeveloped industry, we are trying to develop it, but the fact is that we have not contributed to the extreme climate changes, which we are seeing everywhere, but we do not even have the ability to protect our isolated non-contributory country in climate change. We can isolate Albania, since we are not contributors. Can we make an agreement with God so that the floods do not come to us? If we don't get snowstorms in coastal areas, where we never imagined that the road could be blocked, can we make this deal? No, we can't.

If neighboring Italy is being regularly flooded today, from which we are separated by 70 nautical miles, how will we save Albania? Of course we are the most innocent of the whole group, but on the other hand we will pay the bill like everyone else. For this reason, I will tell you my experience as the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, leaving a little of this usual wooden speech that I never want to read, and I will show you how after a few of shocks, one after the other, that the Ministry of Infrastructure received due to emergencies created in road axes or even in hydropower plants or other critical infrastructures, such as airports and ports, we set up a system monitoring. We set up a monitoring system, which is done through Civil Aviation. Albanian Civil Aviation has managed to raise such capacities through certainly innovation, using services that are offered for a fee by different companies with satellite coverage, to start and anticipate mainly for the needs of Rinas airport, air navigation or even units other Civil Aviation and seeing that this product was really of high quality and quite close to what actually happened on the ground, we decided to use it in all the structures and in all the critical infrastructures that are covered by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy and this happened on the very day when the northern axis of the Tirana-Shkodër highway, but in fact it was about the section from Thumana to the exit of Lezha, was covered by a snowstorm, completely blocking movement on it .

If we were referring to all the dates and facts, we had never had snow on that axis before, so even the maintenance contracts until then were not included as an obligation of the maintenance companies, the snow plows. And the response was delayed because we were forced to bring snow plows from the north to Lezha, a coastal country with a normal historical record that is known only for rain, but not for snow. This was the golden moment when the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy began to prepare and use alternative weather forecasting systems. And to tell you the truth, it has been very successful.

As I gave you the first moment of the beginning of this process, I am giving you the last moment, which was the weekend. On Saturday in the Drin cascade, only the side flows of the Koman hydropower plant reached 2900 cubic meters per second. Under other conditions, the opening of the gates would be required. The opening of the gates was much discussed in terms of the flooding of Shkodra or Sub-Shkodra, but because we had received this information and had this forecast, we had made a perfect management of the cascade by blocking the operations in Fierza, to give it the opportunity increasing the level, since there the level has a difference of 40 meters and it obviously allows you to deposit and by putting into operation all the turbines of Koman and Vau de Deja and saving the at least Sub-Shkodra from the opening of the gates of these two hydropower plants, despite the fact that the flows were the historical maximum flows from the streams that feed Koman.

All this, going into these details, I want to tell you that what is important in this whole process of the profound climate change of the world is obviously prevention, but when it comes to civil emergencies, when it comes to rainfall, to snow, rain, wind and everything else, you can't prevent it, but at least you have to predict it. You must anticipate it in order to be proactive and take appropriate protective measures. Of course, by doing a risk assessment, which area needs the main attention, which area should have the concentration of forces and which area should receive the maximum protection.

What I have identified all along and because of what we have said so far, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, as it carries the heaviest weight of critical infrastructures, is obliged to face such situations, one of the main elements for succeeded even in this activity that is not completely in the hands of either the government or the local government, since these are the major forces and are the special point that provides for every contract, what I have understood is that a continuous synergy between the parties , one good coordination between all actors is undoubtedly the key to minimize all negative impacts.

Here, starting and congratulating you for this excellent initiative of ALBdapt and telling you that today, of course, the time has come that in addition to the regulatory bases, which must be aligned with those of the European Union and all other directives that have do with our obligations as a country, which seeks to join the European Union, two very important elements, undoubtedly, are synergy, coordination of troops, but on the other hand, innovation.

I get a kick out of seeing the ASIG group members here. Today, Albania has an extraordinary predictive and preventive ability. Capabilities for well-studied interventions through satellites, which we already have, but which we must use more. Also, Albania today, through the Ministry of Defense, has one of the most innovative aerial monitoring fleets, the Bajraktar drones, which of course are there to perform their military functions, but on the other hand, as the minister said, already the Ministry of Defense, it is clear that there are also very important missions related to the protection of citizens, related to the support of complicated operations related to civil emergencies. So, coordination of troops, preventive coordination and innovation are two elements that should be used widely, in terms of all civil emergency issues and all challenging issues that we are facing today, due to climate change.

I would also like to say that on behalf of the Albanian Government I have the pleasure of thanking all our partners, otherwise known as donors, for the continuous contribution starting from the German Federal Government, the Swiss Government, all the European financial institutions, who have played a very important role and especially GIZ, for the excellent technical work it does. However, what Mirela said is very true. We need less paper. We need more innovation. We need shorter times and deadlines. Something that foreign partners know very well, because it is one of the main requests that I make at every table. Time for us, for Albanians, is gold. We had this saying inherited from very old times, imagine what time is worth today, when we Albanians have to take some steps much faster than any other country to fill a gap of almost 90 years, which coincides with 47 years of communist regime and 30 years of transition.

We highly respect the work of experts. We understand that everything has its own time of conception, processing, maturation, but I would humbly ask all our collaborators to take into consideration this request of the Albanian Government that the times of each study, the times of each project should be narrowed with the principle that this country has the most important element is time.

I wish you good work during today's conference. Listen to each other without thinking in advance what you want to say, because opinions are not written in stone, neither are laws, nor ministerial orders, nor even government or European Union reforms, and obviously neither are strategies, which vary according to needs, according to experiences and according to the challenges the globe is facing, precisely because of climate change./ CNA