Written by: Etrit Rexhepi
The construction of the Pristina - Gjilan highway began in 2018. Now that we have entered 2024, the work on this project has not yet been completed.
The opening of this highway within the past year was promised by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.
Hibrid.info has researched the course of development of this project, from the initial promises for its launch, the beginning of this project, to the commitments for the completion of this highway.
Analyze:
Hibrid.info's research takes us back to the early parliamentary elections of 2014, when the former leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Hashim Thaçi, had promised to build the Prishtina - Bresalcë - Gjilan - Konçul highway (see here).
Former Prime Minister Thaçi had stated that the decision regarding this issue had already been made.
Although Thaçi did not emerge as prime minister from these elections, the party he led had joined the ruling coalition, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which had appointed its leader, Isa Mustafa, as chief executive.
Mustafa, in his speech as a nominee for prime minister in the Kosovo Assembly, also stated that the design of the Pristina-Gjilan highway will be among the main infrastructure projects during the governing mandate (see here).
Hibrid.info has found that Prime Minister Mustafa's pledge was put into action by the former Minister of Infrastructure, Lutfi Zharku, who had said that the conceptual project of the Pristina-Gjilan highway would be presented in 2015 (here), which was achieved on December 28 of the same year (see here).
Officials from the ministry headed by Zharku had also given a deadline for when the construction of the highway was expected to begin. Hibrid.info has learned through an article by “Koha.net” that the construction of the Prishtina – Gjilan – Dheu i Bardhë highway was promised to begin in August 2017 (see here).
This article was published on May 6, four days before the no-confidence motion against the Mustafa government, the vote of which had led the country to early elections on June 18, 2017.
Which means that the fate of this project would remain in the hands of the government that would emerge as a result of these early elections.
From the articles found in further research by hibrid.info, it is confirmed that the construction of the Pristina - Gjilan highway was also promised by the government of Ramush Haradinaj.
The Minister and Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Pal Lekaj and Rexhep Kadriu from this government had confirmed the start of the project (see here and here). Deputy Minister Kadriu even pledged that the project would start in March 2018 (here).
The highway began construction, not in March but a month later (here). While through an article in "EkonomiaOnline", hibrid.info has confirmed that Minister Lekaj had stated that the Pristina - Gjilan - Dheu i Bardhë highway will be completed within a certain deadline (here).
The same article explains that the contract for the completion of the project is 30 months.
But even the Haradinaj government did not complete its full mandate. In 2019, early elections were organized on October 6, after the resignation of the AAK leader from the post of prime minister. The elections brought the coalition between the LDK and the Vetëvendosje Movement to power.
In a post dated February 7, 2020, on Facebook, verified by hibrid.info, the Minister of Infrastructure and Environment from this coalition, Lumir Abdixhiku, had promised that the Anamorava highway would be built within this governing mandate (here), while 2 weeks later the same minister, also on Facebook, announced the cancellation of the 110 million tender announced without budget approval during the government transition (here).
These plans did not go as planned, as Abdixhiku's journey to the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure was interrupted after the Kosovo Assembly voted in a motion of no confidence in the Kurti government (here).
Abdixhiku's place at the head of this ministry, for a short period, was taken by Arban Abrashi. Like his predecessors at the head of this department, he had also made public statements regarding the continuation of the highway construction, which were also found by hibrid.info (see here and here).
From the period of the LDK - LVV coalition government until the beginning of 2021, the country faced three changes of government and the Covid-19 pandemic, challenges which are estimated to have played a role in delaying the development of this highway.
After the early parliamentary elections, held on February 14, 2021, and after the overthrow of Avdullah Hoti's government, Albin Kurti was appointed Prime Minister for the second time.
Hibrid.info has researched and confirmed that the construction of the Pristina - Gjilan highway was included in the Kurti government's 2021 - 2025 government plan-program (see here).
Excerpts from the government plan and program for 2021-2025:
Integrated road infrastructure
The creation of an integrated road transport system enables better and faster connections between regions within the country and abroad. To achieve this, we will complete existing infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the Besi-Merdare highway segment and the Pristina-Gnjilane highway, the expansion of the existing Pristina-Mitrovicë road network and the Kijev-Zahaq highway, we will implement new projects such as the expansion of the national roads Istog-Peja-Deçan-Gjakova-Prizren, including ring roads, the rehabilitation of the national roads Qafë Duhël-ShtimeFerizaj, which connects to the Pristina-Skopje highway, as well as the construction of the border roads Deçan-Plava, Prizren-Tetovo and Gnjilane-Kumanovo. We will also pay special attention to the rehabilitation of the existing network and the construction of new roads, as well as the construction of the outer ring road of Pristina.
While some public statements by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Hysen Durmishi, also found by hibrid.info, it is thought that the highway connecting Gjilan with Pristina will be completed in 2023 (see here and here).
The completion of the project within the past year was also implied by the country's Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, who in a Facebook post (July 21) stated that the Pristina - Gjilan highway would be opened in 2023 (see here).
Hibrid.info has managed to find that in this post, which is also accompanied by a video material showing footage from Prime Minister Kurti's visit to the highway works, the head of government congratulated the citizens of Gjilan on the completion of the project.
Based on the fact that after searching hibrid.info on the website of the Ministry of Infrastructure, regarding the Gjilan highway, no announcement of its completion was found (here), hibrid.info estimates that Prime Minister Kurti's commitment to open the highway within 2023 has not been kept.
Conclusion:
Prime Minister Albin Kurti had stated that the Pristina - Gjilan highway would be completed and inaugurated within 2023.
After verification by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that there is no official announcement that the opening of this highway has occurred in 2023.
Based on the methodology of working on the fulfillment or keeping of promises, hibrid.info evaluates Prime Minister Kurti's statement as an unkept promise.
Rating:
Fulfillment or keeping of promises is mainly related to pre-election promises, which are monitored at the central and local levels during the four-year mandate. This research is mainly conducted during the pre-election campaign, where the main political figures are monitored, in order to have a fact-check of what they say. Based on the promises made earlier, through the election program, Hibrid.info checks the statements of these politicians, to see if they have managed to keep those promises after the mandate. Hibrid.info plans to publish such reports on an annual basis.
The assessment in this category is made as – promise kept (if it is kept), partial promise kept and promise not kept (if it is not kept).