By Jerina Zaloshnja
The latest idea that the government proposed in order to solve the energy crisis is the construction of a nuclear power plant. Experts are actually discussing whether the construction of such a plant in Albania is viable and whether Albania has the means required for building such a plant as an alternative way of producing energy. In itself this might not be such a bad or useless idea, but it is evident that the entry into the nuclear age that the government are proposing cannot serve as a solution not only to the current energy crisis but also for the coming four or five years. After all according to the experts the construction of a power plant would require at least 10 years. Even the construction of thermal power plants will not immediately ease the crisis. For instance the construction of the power plant in Vlora that has just started will take at least two years before it can produce any energy. Meanwhile according to the Ministry of Finance the crisis has reduced the economic growth of the country by at least 2%. The negative effects of the crisis have been felt acutely by the whole economy and for all the initiatives of the government aimed at promoting foreign investment the energy crisis has been and continues to be one of the factors that do not allow Albania to attract investments. In fact it is rather superfluous to try and bring arguments on the negative effects of the crisis for the country.
The question is how this crisis can be overcome. What is clear is that the government lack a short or medium term strategy for this. The ideas proposed thus far range from windmills to thermal plants and nuclear plans. In the meanwhile everyone keeps looking at the sky hoping for some rainy weather that would solve the crisis as if by magic wand.
But while nuclear ideas for the production of energy are being discussed, it seems that nobody in Albania and especially nobody from the government is worried about the “rrumpalla” of the management of the energy sources we do posses. But what is the Albanian management “rrumpalla”? Let us use a modest, but significant example to clarify.
When F.K, a relatively young woman who had just come to Tirana from the highlands of Kor衠heard of the ideas of the government for building a nuclear power plant, her first question was: If the energy is nuclear, does it mean that we have to start paying? This inhabitant of Tirana was greatly relieved when she was told that the fact that the energy was nuclear had nothing to do with payments.
Unfortunately in Tirana as in the rest of Albania there are hundreds of thousands of others who do not pay. According to the World Bank about 50% of the citizens of Albania do not pay for the energy they consume. And of course no one knows how much they consume either.
Energy has lately become one of the priorities of the government. There are a number of new projects that aim to supplement and add to the energy sources such as the construction of new hydro plants or thermal plants. They are coming late, but better late than never. But while the government is discussing new projects going as far as a nuclear power plant, there does not seem to be any concrete action aimed at eliminating the Albanian management “rrumpalla”. KESH, the corporation that is supposed to manage the energy system of Albania resembles a black hole that sucks up extraordinary amounts of money. But regardless of the mismanagement of the energy corporation that is still state owned, the “rrumpalla” of the management of the energy resources of Albania cannot be blamed solely on this corporation. All post-Communist governments in Albania have failed to draft and implement a clear strategy on the energy resources and their management. More than to KESH the energy crisis should be attributed to a political “rumpalla”.
* Rumpalla is an Albanian slang world of turkish origin. It means chaos, and something more.
