Iljaz Memushi works almost 10 hours every day as a taxi driver in Gjirokastra, but the waiting time for clients in recent months is longer than working time.
The closure of the border with Greece seriously reduced the daily income for him and his colleagues because 30% of the turnover was obtained from the passenger transport to the Kakavija border crossing.
“We are directly connected with Greece. The more open the movement the more opportunities there are. The closure has affected everyone. There were buses, taxis and people going daily. We are all in the same circle.”
Even Iljaz’s clients who traveled to Greece several times a week for health reasons, to buy medications or even to work as seasonal workers, circulate very little. In Dropull, where 80% of the population is of retirement age, lonely residents are turning to health centers in Albania to receive occasional services while relatives in Greece provide the purchase and transportation of medicines.
The paralysis of exchanges with Greece since June due to Covid-19, is believed to have hit hard the revenue provided from these exchanges on both sides of the border. The costs of carrying out buffers several times a month to cross the border are unaffordable for most citizens.
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