They built the Great Ring Road for €450 million, but forgot about pedestrian crossings (ARRSH opens new tender for €320 thousand)

2026-05-01 19:19:36Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Photo montage - Vox News

The construction of roads and public works in Albania has been a major mess, with considerable damage to the state budget, as the same state authority has made several tenders for the same “work”. The most concrete case comes from the Tirana Ring Road, a work that cost a full 450 million euros, over its entire length, built over several years, with design, construction, supervision, contract addenda and several other supplementary procedures.

Each of us is a witness that, when a road is built in this small country of ours, after a few months it collapses, or if it does not collapse, sewage channels are opened, later channels for drinking water, then tenders are made for signage, etc., etc. Such a thing happened with the Great Ring Road, because in addition to large tenders divided into several lots, additions were made, as well as supplementary procedures, but all of these have not been enough.

Vox News has obtained another document released again by the Albanian Road Authority, which will spend more money on this Ring Road, this time for a small detail; pedestrian overpasses! How can you not design, build pedestrian overpasses on such an axis? Either the current overpasses are non-functional and in constant danger to their lives, or these famous ARRSH engineers, who are arrested every month for serious violations, are incompetent.

They built the Great Ring Road for €450 million, but forgot about
Facsimile: Tender opened by ARRSH for the construction of a pedestrian overpass on the Eastern Ring Road of Tirana

According to documents researched by Vox News, the new director Ami Kozeli is making some "corrections" to the projects of his predecessors in that position, Gentian Gjyli and Evis Berberi, both under official charges by SPAK. Kozeli has signed the next tender for the Grand Ring Road with the object of "construction of a pedestrian overpass on the eastern Ring Road of Tirana". It is learned that the place where this overpass will be built is in Kinostudio, a junction that connects the city of Tirana with the Fresku area.

In the same documents, ARRSH writes that the limit fund of the procedure for the construction of this overpass is 31,666,670 lekë, as it concerns road works. But, in that place, according to photos provided by Vox News, an overpass has been built. Road experts have stated that the overpass does not solve the problem of pedestrians, since most of the time, there is traffic of residents.

They built the Great Ring Road for €450 million, but forgot about

They built the Great Ring Road for €450 million, but forgot about
In the photo: The roundabout of the Great Ring Road of Tirana, connecting Kinostudio with the Fresku area

That junction connects Kinostudio with the Fresku area, while most of the time, or during rush hours, the roundabout is blocked. Residents are forced to pass between cars, since the famous engineers of the ARRSH did not plan to build such an overpass. Now, again with their money, misused in the past, the Authority will open a new tender. An addition, on top of the addition for the construction of the Great Ring Road.

A few weeks ago, Vox News published other documents, for a tender that the General Directorate of Roads and Lighting in the Municipality of Tirana had opened for the Grand Ring Road. This local government directorate has opened the procedure for “materials for the maintenance of the Grand Ring Road signage”.

The limit fund of the procedure is 60,088,333 lekë excluding VAT, or 623 thousand euros. A considerable amount, given that the Grand Ring Road should have been maintained by the ARA itself, by the companies that built it or by anything else. As in many projects throughout Albania, the Grand Ring Road, which currently has an open file at SPAK, is continuing to "eat" money.

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