Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
"The Pristina - Mitrovica road will be completed within 12 months."
This is what was written in the description of a Video material published on February 8, 2024, on the Facebook account of Hysen Durmishi, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure.
Was the construction of this road completed within this deadline?
Hibrid.info has found that part of the road has been completed, while work on its overall construction is still ongoing.
Durmish's transcribed statement from the video:
"We are forced to terminate the contract and have immediately started the procedure for signing a new contract. Today is the day we signed the contract and we have taken care that the dynamic plan for the development of the works in the contract is short. So, from today there are 12 months, calendar days not working days; so, today the contractor is obliged to deliver the completed workshop, this entire project. We will take care that the first phase of the works is mainly done on the first segment of the road to Vushtrri and, in the second half of the year, to work on the bypass that is in Vushtrri, as it is less loaded with traffic. So, so that by the time the migrants arrive, the main part of the road is completed, in July-August, and then we continue with the next segment."
Hibrid.info has found details of the project for this road, in a post on Facebook, by Minister Liburn Aliu, published on the day of the contract signing (February 8).
The status stated that the N2 Pristina - Mitrovica National Road project includes the segment from Lum i Madh to Gojbula, with a length of 9.78 km.
See the picture:
in a publication on Facebook (December 20, 2024) it was announced by Albin Kurti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, about the finalization of the 5.5 kilometer long Stanovc-Hyrje e Vushtrri segment within the National Road N2 Pristina - Mitrovica within 10 months from the signing of the new contract.
Further, Kurti wrote that works from there to Gojbulë, about 4.2 kilometers long, were continuing.
See the picture:
Hibrid.info has researched for media publications that may provide information about the status of the works on this road. The most recent publication found is a video material with a chronicle from "ATV Television", published on the official channel of this medium on Youtube, on January 21, 2025.
Based on what is said in the video, it is understood that the remaining segment of this road, at the time of publication of this chronicle, was not being worked on.
The news also contains a statement by Minister Durmishi, who justifies the delays with bad weather and warns of penalties against the company due to non-fulfillment of the contract (see here).
One year after the signing of the contract, hibrid.info has checked the accounts of the responsible institutional officials on Facebook (Prime Minister Kurti, Minister Aliu and Deputy Minister Durmishi,) on the page at Facebook and in Web-site of the Ministry of Infrastructure as well as in Web-site of the Government.
In none of these sources of information has confirmation been found for the completion of this project within the deadline declared by Minister Durmishi.
Conclusion:
The construction of the Pristina-Mitrovica road, the segment from Lumi i Madh to Gojbulë, has not been completed within a year, as stated by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Durmishi.
Hibrid.info has found that within this one-year period, part of this road has been completed.
Based on the methodology of work on fulfilling or keeping promises, hibrid.info evaluates the failure to fulfill this commitment as "partial keeping of the promise".
Reasoning:
Fulfillment or keeping of promises is mainly related to pre-election ones, which are monitored at the central and local levels during the four-year mandate. This research is mainly done 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 – keeping the promise (if it is kept), partial keeping of the promise and promise not kept (if it is not kept).