Wikileaks, USA: Durres-Kukes premature opening cost

On April 17 2009, the embassy discovers that the President of the Betchel Company himself, Michael Adams, has tried to convince Berisha to not open the Durres-Kukes highway on June 27th, two days before the elections, because that would be dangerous and would increase the cost of the road with at least 15 million EUR.

According to a Betchel high-rank official, the Minister Olldashi and the general director believed that the tunnel inauguration should be postponed to October, but no one had the courage to send this message to the Prime Minister.

Betchel said that they understood the pressure of Berisha, referring to Edi Rama’s declaration, who had accused the Prime Minister of lying for the deadlines of this road, and that the road would be inaugurated by a Socialist Prime Minister.

As warned by Betchel, the premature opening of the tunnel brought damages that cost to the budget not 15 million EUR, but almost twice this amount of money.

The embassy says that the cost of this road was increased for many reasons, one of which was Berisha’s desire for having a straight tunnel in all its length, different to the project.

Ironically, as the embassy says, the government refused to pay for the road safety measures, such as the guardrails and overpasses, which would allow the villagers to move freely with their cattle on a road where cars travel with 120 kmh.

The cables treat many other economical issues, regarding price hikes during 2008-2009, when they doubt the integrity of INSTAT inflation numbers. The embassy says that the price of bread increased with 40%, while INSTAT gave a much smaller report.

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