21 November 2008 Tirana — Italy has denied any imminent plans to develop a nuclear plant in Albania, dismissing optimistic Albanian forecasts of a project that would turn the energy-strapped country into a power exporter.
Italian energy giant Enel had previously indicated it was interested in a nuclear power project in the Balkans, possibly Albania or Montenegro, both locations that are close enough to allow a link to Italy, where nuclear plants are outlawed.
“Italy needs such projects while Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has the goodwill to develop the nuclear resources,” the Italian ambassador in Tirana Saba D’Elia told an inverstors’ forum late on Thursday. “But there is nothing more to this.”
Berisha has repeatedly spoken of government plans to make Albania an energy superpower through the development of nuclear plants, saying in June that Albanians should “benefit from this clean source of energy.”
The opposition and energy analysts say that instead of focusing on grandiose plans, the government should pursue investment in the power network, which fell into disrepair in the 1980s under the former communist regime and in the first years of transition to democracy in the early 1990s.
Increased demands as the economy grew rapidly in the last 15 years mean frequent and lasting blackouts and a reliance on petrol generators in homes and businesses across the country. Experts say some $1.6 billion (1 billion) is needed to successfully overhaul the system.
