Shkodra free zone
Shkodra free zone Shkodra free zone
Ferid R. Hoti The Basic Strategy of the Development in the region of Shkodra, Albania Published by ( electronic edition by Arben Çokaj, www.shkoder.net ) 1
- Page 2 and 3: Ferid R. Hoti Deputy of the People'
- Page 4 and 5: FERID R. HOTI Ferid R. Hoti was bor
- Page 6 and 7: Actually, Zone No. 8 represents the
- Page 8 and 9: settled, such as Pjeter Dodmasej. T
- Page 10 and 11: establishment of the several counci
- Page 12 and 13: 1913: On the 14 th of May the city
- Page 14 and 15: Soldiers of the international force
- Page 16 and 17: Famine in Shkoder. In the picture:
- Page 18 and 19: The railway transportation during t
- Page 20 and 21: Doc. Sadetin, the nephew of the Tur
- Page 22 and 23: Successful financial policies helpe
- Page 24 and 25: 1939-1944: Special strategic intere
- Page 26 and 27: and implement a universal political
- Page 28 and 29: In an industrialized country, the
- Page 30 and 31: esources. Thus, it might be conclud
- Page 32 and 33: increased the financial revenues th
- Page 34 and 35: (the Venice consul) reported it to
- Page 36 and 37: “Scutari” steamship of Muzhani
- Page 38 and 39: Steamship of the mercantile-fleet o
- Page 40 and 41: credible arguments and show, first
- Page 42 and 43: construction of the Durres-Istanbul
- Page 44 and 45: By analyzing, let’s say, the ‘p
- Page 46 and 47: market economy game, the staff in c
- Page 48 and 49: o are realising here what is legall
- Page 50 and 51: effects of this incentive, experien
Ferid R. Hoti<br />
The Basic Strategy of the Development<br />
in the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, Albania<br />
Published by<br />
( electronic edition by Arben Çokaj, www.shkoder.net )<br />
1
Ferid R. Hoti<br />
Deputy of the People's Assembly (Zone no. 8)<br />
SHKODRA<br />
FREE ZONE<br />
The most adequate<br />
option for the economic<br />
development of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
region, giving the actual<br />
conditions<br />
Shtëpia Botuese “CAMAJ – PIPA”<br />
Shkodër, 1999<br />
2
Translated by: Artan KARINI<br />
of the USAID Public Administration<br />
Project in Albania<br />
November 1997.<br />
Reviewer: Artan Rroji<br />
Design: Gjergj Spathari<br />
Computer: Albana Gjyrezi<br />
Photos: S. Osmani & M. Borici<br />
(‘Marubi’ Archive, Shkodër)<br />
First Edition, 1997<br />
© Copyright: Ferid R. Hoti<br />
3
FERID R. HOTI<br />
Ferid R. Hoti was born in<br />
Shkoder on 11.21.1943 to an old<br />
civic family, renowned for the<br />
preservation of their heritage ties<br />
with their kinsfolk in Hot (Malësi e<br />
Madhe).<br />
Graduated from the<br />
Department of Medicine in 1967.<br />
For 28 years, committed to heal his<br />
patients, he served as a surgeon adhering to the principle: “Medicine<br />
does not serve the physician, but the patients”.<br />
For the first time in the Shkoder hospital, he applied the<br />
technique of narcotic tubes, designed and built the Intensive Care<br />
Unit and the guinea-pig surgical theatre (the first of this kind in<br />
Albania).<br />
He owns the patent on two surgical operation techniques on<br />
stomach and bladder.<br />
At the first democratic election, 1992, he was elected member<br />
of the Municipal Council.<br />
In 1993, he completed a 6 months specialization course in<br />
France.<br />
For a period of 4 years, he served as the Albanian ambassador<br />
to Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam.<br />
During his diplomatic mission, he was distinguished for a<br />
successful assimilation of economic policies, the accomplishment of<br />
several important investments in Tirana and the opening of the<br />
Albanian Center for the attraction of business from the South-East<br />
Asia and also the commercial agencies in Pinangut - Malaysia,<br />
Xhakarta - Indonesia, Perth - the centre of Western Australia. In<br />
1997 he was elected member of the Albanian Parliament and<br />
member of the Commission of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU).<br />
4
TOWARDS THE LOSS<br />
OF THE ECONOMIC<br />
AUTONOMY OF<br />
SHKODER CITY<br />
The citizens of Shkoder have<br />
expected concrete plans for the<br />
economic development of their area.<br />
In order to interpret the TIRANA<br />
present demands and the inevitable<br />
reactions of tomorrow imposed by the deep poverty this material<br />
follows with a brief account of the historical experience, which over<br />
the past hundred years, determined the economic ill fate for the<br />
inhabitants of this area (marked during the last elections campaign as<br />
Zone No. 8). In reality, this <strong>zone</strong> comprises a triangular area<br />
bordered by the rivers of Buna, Drini, Kiri and by the Lake of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>. In this area lies the Rozafat castle, the river jetty and<br />
ancient cites of the city.<br />
Citizens of <strong>Shkodra</strong> in a passenger boat<br />
passing from one side of the city to the other - 1908<br />
5
Actually, Zone No. 8 represents the City of Shkoder that is<br />
identified as an inland port on ancient Greek-Roman navigation maps<br />
and those of modern navy schools. Situated on the North - West<br />
Albania, bordering with the Montenegrin Republic, the City has been<br />
estimated as a confluent point of quite a number of commercial<br />
routes linking Central Europe with the Mediterranean basin, between<br />
the East and the West. Because of the navigable river Buna and the<br />
Lake in common with Montenegro, ships from the Dalmatian shore,<br />
Italy, North Africa, Aegean Isles, Turkey and several North Atlantic<br />
countries used to moor at the Shkoder river port, thus turning it into a<br />
key commercial point for all the West Balkans.<br />
Until the proclamation of the Independence, the City of<br />
Shkoder was known as the “moral and political capital” of Albania<br />
and had a population of 50 000 inhabitants, at a time when Tirana<br />
had some 3000, Korce 6000, Vlore 5000, Janina 2800 and Belgrade<br />
15 000, inhabitants. It is evident though, that in spite of the perennial<br />
tide of foreign invasions, the citizens of Shkoder succeeded, very<br />
soon, to take into their hands the economic self-administration of the<br />
city, to provide it with all the functional-administrative structures<br />
that belong to a real metropolis. This metropolis, as one resting upon<br />
its own foundations dating back from the 4 Century B. C., was<br />
identified as the oldest of all Balkan cities and most of those<br />
European ones.<br />
During the rule of Balshaj, in 14 th century, the city developed<br />
trade relations with the Dalmatian cities. After the agreement signed<br />
on April 14, 1396, between Gjergj II of Balshaj and Venice, <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
was placed under the rule of Sinjoris and for 84 years (1396-1479),<br />
its trade was oriented towards the Republic of San Marco. After the<br />
Turks took over <strong>Shkodra</strong> in 1479, the City became an important<br />
military centre. In 1502, at the request of <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s powerful traders,<br />
in order to continue the economic self-governing, on Sultan's decree,<br />
Shkoder was granted the status of “a city open to trade”<br />
6
(a status similar to that of today’s <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>). The merchants of<br />
Shkoder had such a powerful activity at that time, that during 18 th<br />
and 19 th centuries there were 130 representations of commerce in<br />
Venice, and <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s Chamber of Commerce was represented by<br />
Mrs. Terezina Muzhani. Referring to the report dated on April 8,<br />
1736, the Head of <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s Chamber of Commerce was substituted.<br />
Sulejman Beg Gradani was elected as the chairman and Hasan Beg<br />
Kopliku as the vice chairman, a fact proving that this Chamber<br />
functioned times ago, being so one of the oldest in the region.<br />
During the rule of the Bushati’s Dynasty (1779-1832),<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> experienced a trade boom. Besides its market, the Bejisten,<br />
built during the period 1801-1807 by the Albanian vizier Ibrahim<br />
Pasha Bushati, ranked second after that of Instanbul.<br />
The market of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
During this period, the activity of the <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s merchants<br />
was concentrated mainly in Trieste where a number of merchants<br />
7
settled, such as Pjeter Dodmasej. The shipment through the river of<br />
Buna mostly provided supplies for the joint market, which at that<br />
time was known as the “axle” between Vienna, Trieste, <strong>Shkodra</strong>,<br />
Thessaloniki and Instanbul. <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s contribution to this market<br />
was constant and influential up until the revolt that embraced our city<br />
in 1839 against the new systems of taxes, liabilities, etc.<br />
Furthermore, the use of the Sues Canal in the year 1869 and the<br />
Mitrovice-Thessaloniki railway gave Shkoder two successive hits.<br />
Similar to what happened in all the other seaports of the region,<br />
under the absorbing effect of the Sues Canal, the flux of goods<br />
passing through <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s port was further reduced because the port<br />
lacked connections with the freight railway network of the Balkan<br />
countries.<br />
Two years ago (1872) merchants of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, headed by Filip<br />
Parruca, raised the necessary capital to pay the designers and start<br />
building the whole railway Shengjin-Shkoder-Prizren-Ferizaj, but<br />
this undertaking was interrupted leaving the city isolated for ever<br />
from the railway network of Balkan and Europe. The operation of the<br />
faster and safer railway freight through all the Balkan and European<br />
countries, except <strong>Shkodra</strong>, challenged considerably the classical<br />
routes towards <strong>Shkodra</strong> market. The trade took other directions<br />
towards Mitrovice, Prishtine, Ferizaj, Thessaloniki. The use of Sues<br />
Canal increased the value and the importance of Thessaloniki port.<br />
Under the new circumstances (determined by the separation from the<br />
railway network) the economic authority of <strong>Shkodra</strong> metropolis<br />
began to fade and city’s elite began to focus their attention on the<br />
fluvial route of Buna River. The activity was so powerful that out of<br />
the custom duties imposed on the imported colonial goods, in 1895<br />
they managed to raise the necessary financial capital to engage a<br />
group of Austrian and French engineers to carry out the necessary<br />
studies and design projects to clean the river mouth, dredge and<br />
8
deepen the river-bed and deviate the flow of Kiri river into the lake<br />
and that of Drini river into the sea. This was to ensure the all-time<br />
navigation over the whole of its length and to facilitate the navigation<br />
of medium size vessels.<br />
Only through the utilization of the navigating route of Buna<br />
River, the city hoped to keep a stable economic development.<br />
Unfortunately, the project was never carried out.<br />
Workers cleaning the river of Buna<br />
The isolation of <strong>Shkodra</strong> from the European Trans Balkan<br />
railway network was not a matter of accident, but a result of the<br />
direct intervention of those states interested to disregard this<br />
metropolis administered by the Turks. Referring to the observations<br />
of Carl Marx, presented in the article published in the New York<br />
Times in 1853, the region of Shkoder was a neuralgic point of the<br />
Mediterranean, vital for the Russian, Austrian, Italian, and Turkish<br />
imperialism. The development of the city reflected their interests.<br />
Only by following this reasoning we can explain the reason of the<br />
9
establishment of the several councils (starting from 1718),<br />
Diplomatic Missions of the five big powers (France, Britain, Russia,<br />
Italy, Austria) and two regional states (Montenegro and Greece),<br />
branches of the Turkish, Italian, Austrian banks, the bank of Albania<br />
(reportedly it is the first one in the country and was established by<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> businessmen on February 4, 1863) and also the market wellknown<br />
all over the area. According to several western analysts, the<br />
intensive flux of commercial exchanges at the City Market and the<br />
activity of the above mentioned banks were the key factors<br />
attributable to Shkoder’s authority in the Balkans’ stock exchange.<br />
Since the early Middle Ages, especially in the 18-19 th<br />
centuries, the Market operated under the discipline of juridical<br />
principles, and because it was glutted with both domestic and<br />
imported goods, it was rigorously divided into separate wards<br />
amounting to 3500 rich stores and over 2400 big warehouses. In the<br />
second half of the 18 th century, <strong>Shkodra</strong>, with its domestic and<br />
foreign trade, continued to play the role of a national centre for all<br />
kinds of goods, coming from all parts of Albania and partly from<br />
Bosnia, Macedonia and Thessaloniki. Unfortunately, over the past<br />
100 years, the City did lose the economic autonomy it enjoyed in the<br />
past centuries.<br />
WHY DID THE ECONOMIC DECLINE OF SHKODRA START<br />
AFTER THE PROCLAMATION OF THE INDIPENDENCE OF<br />
ALBANIA?<br />
Referring to the historical events, we will interpret the causes<br />
of the economic devastation of our City over the 20 th century as<br />
follows:<br />
1912: At a time when Shkoder found itself besieged by the<br />
Serb-Montenegrin troops, in south Albania the national<br />
independence ceremony was held. Lonesome, after six months<br />
10
of resistance, in April the city tolerated the moving in of the<br />
Montenegrins who left within three weeks. The losses were extensive<br />
including the ruin of the market (Bejisten, etc.)<br />
1912, the city is surrounded. Following the directions of Commander<br />
Hasan Riza Pasha, Turkish and <strong>Shkodra</strong> volunteer soldiers defend the city<br />
Ugo Oieti (Italian journalist that followed the surrounding of <strong>Shkodra</strong> in 1912)<br />
in front of the Italian Diplomatic Mission<br />
11
1913: On the 14 th of May the city was handed over (for two<br />
years) to the international military committee headed by General<br />
Burney (the same tactics with that of E.U. followed lastly, in 1997,<br />
through “Alba mission”). As stated by William U. Howard, the<br />
States Secretary for the aids fond to the Balkans, during this period<br />
the major part of 124 villages ruined by Serbian army, without being<br />
provoked by the Albanians, was from Shkoder region.<br />
In London, the political borders were imposed. <strong>Shkodra</strong> got<br />
impoverished and was separated from the Kosova and Metohi<br />
markets. Further on, with the decisions of Berlin Congress,<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>’s market was separated even from those of Tivari, Ulqini,<br />
Plava, Hoti, Gruda, etc.<br />
General Burney, The Commander of the<br />
international army committee, 1913<br />
12
Detachment of international forces in Shkoder for the<br />
establishment of 1913’s political borders<br />
Commanders of army forces from the rural areas to help the chief-center of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, during the discussions about political borders held in 1913<br />
13
Soldiers of the international forces and leaders of the city and village war units<br />
defending <strong>Shkodra</strong> after the Declaration of the Political Borders in 1913<br />
1914: The First World War had just started. Foreign armies<br />
were in <strong>Shkodra</strong>; most of the shipping fleet was damaged.<br />
Turkish warship, 1914, at anchor in the port of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
14
Italian warship in Shkoder, 1914<br />
1915: A seven months invasion from the Montenegrin army<br />
was imposed. There was an extreme famine in the city. In order to<br />
face the grave situation the “caring commission for providing corn to<br />
the people” was set up.<br />
15
Famine in Shkoder. In the picture: A lunch for the poor<br />
held by the international forces, 1915<br />
1916: In January the Montenegrin troops left. The city was<br />
then administered by the Austro-Hungarians (for two years).<br />
Important public projects started in the city, such as the covering up<br />
of all opened rain-water and sewer canals and also the building of the<br />
modem wharf of <strong>Shkodra</strong> port.<br />
It is the first time that the Albanian language is used as the<br />
official language in all administration offices. The medical ambulant<br />
and hospital service and the general hygienic control were improved<br />
to perfection. Attention was paid to the building of the infrastructure,<br />
internationalization of Buna port (joining it to the land roads leading<br />
to Lezha, Podgorica, Ulqini), the railway unification of all the most<br />
important urban centres, administered by them, was achieved.<br />
The building of the Shengjin-Shkoder and Prizren-Ferizaj<br />
railways according to a project pending since 1872 was decreed.<br />
Quite different from our today's neglecting attitude, the Austro-<br />
Hungarian Empire esteemed so much this project that in order to<br />
16
implement it the general command decided to bring in <strong>Shkodra</strong> 60<br />
thousands workers (prisoners of war). Even this time this<br />
undertaking was interrupted because in 1918 the empire capitulated.<br />
During this period the activities of two Viennese banks,<br />
“Pester Ung Bank” of Budapest and “Wiens Banc Werein” of Vienna<br />
went so far as to gulp in all the savings of the citizens promising<br />
them very high interests (a speculative “get-rich-quickly” game,<br />
which bears a thrilling resemblance to the pyramid schemes of the<br />
recent years). According to the payment order issued by the Wiener-<br />
Bank-Werein on October 5, 1918, this bank alone had appropriated<br />
26, 330, 447 crowns and 40 helera (silver coins).<br />
During this period, the Italian military navy submerged the<br />
five biggest vessels left of the <strong>Shkodra</strong> fleet, among which was the<br />
1000 tons ship “Gloria”. Its owner, Selim Shurdha, on his ship was<br />
known in the Mediterranean basin as the winner of the Alexandria-<br />
Trieste race with participants from Spain, Italy, Greece, etc.<br />
General Trollmann, Commander of the Austrian forces in Shkoder, 1916<br />
17
The railway transportation during the period of Austro-Hungarian Empire included<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, too. (The picture shows railways in one of the market streets, 1917)<br />
1918: The First World War was over and the Austrians left<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>. For the two coming years the city is administered by<br />
common European Powers (Allies). In the two following years the<br />
Allies took over, the administration of the city.<br />
1920: The battle of Kopliku took place (18 km away from<br />
Shkoder) causing the city financial losses of two millions silver<br />
crowns (not mentioning the material damages).<br />
Destroyed houses. A warrior of <strong>Shkodra</strong> on watch (War of Koplik, 1920)<br />
18
The war of Koplik - 1920. A group of Albanian Soldiers in between<br />
the fighting’s, captured by the camera of Marubi Photo<br />
The mission term of French garrison, to keep order in the city,<br />
expired. Following the shrewd advises of Marta Doda or Marta of<br />
Preng Pasha (the wife of the outstanding surgeon Sadetin), the<br />
consigning of the city from the commander Barti de Fortou to the<br />
Minister of Interiors, Ahmed Zogu, was achieved. For the first time<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> came under the administration of a government sprung from<br />
Lushnja Congress and officially lost its authority of the political<br />
capital, preserving that of the moral, cultural and economic capital.<br />
On the left, Marta (of Preng Pasha), the wife of Doctor Sadetin. After 10 years of<br />
prison she lived her last years in deep poverty, “forgotten” by everyone and<br />
separated from her husband and daughter Frida (on the right), who was also<br />
imprisoned for 30 years - the three of them were un put under absurd accusations<br />
invented by the public prosecutors of the Communist Regime.<br />
19
Doc. Sadetin, the nephew of the Turkish governor in Syria and<br />
Lebanon, who founded the first Albanian hospital (in <strong>Shkodra</strong>)<br />
and the Red Cross. He died isolated by the Communist Regime<br />
in the villages of Lushnja.<br />
20
The Commander of French Garrison, Barti de Fartou, on the day of the<br />
departure from his residence, after handing the City of Shkoder over to<br />
Ahmet Beg Zogolli in 1920<br />
1924: The city was involved in the events of the revolution<br />
lead by F. S. Noli. The Prefecture building was set on fire where the<br />
daring gendarmerie commander, the captain Ferid Frasheri, was<br />
killed.<br />
Willing to achieve the economic development and political<br />
stability within the pruned Albania of the 1913 borders, Nolists<br />
attempted to establish a liberal republic with a capitalist market<br />
economy. The projects failed leaving behind large basic needs,<br />
poverty and distress. Some representatives of international trust<br />
companies and monopolies, interested in investing in mineral<br />
resources, left.<br />
1925-1939: The capitalist development process was restored;<br />
there was an increase in the investments in infrastructure, education<br />
and in tobacco, cement, consumption, alcoholic drinks and textile<br />
industry. The public order was fully restored, juridical powers<br />
succeeded in becoming independent, the school was separated from<br />
the religion and political stability prevailed.<br />
21
Successful financial policies helped to strengthen and stabilize the<br />
Albanian currency.<br />
The domestic airport of <strong>Shkodra</strong> started to function, the<br />
exploitation of Buna port was improved, the domestic and foreign<br />
trade was intensified and the codified border traffic with Montenegro<br />
was released.<br />
His Majesty, the first King of the Albanians, Ahmet Zogu<br />
22
During the Kingdom period, the rule of law was guaranteed by the gendarmerie,<br />
famous in Europe. In the picture: The Princesses accompanied by General<br />
Aranitasi, etc., during a visit in the Drini Quarters in the center of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
(in front of the Prefecture Building), 1928<br />
Passenger’s airplane (3 motors), flying Rome-Shkoder,<br />
in the Airport of Shkoder, 1939<br />
23
1939-1944: Special strategic interest was paid to the<br />
infrastructure. The airport and port of <strong>Shkodra</strong> were fully efficient.<br />
Trade relations with Kosovo and Italy were restored. The allies<br />
managed to submerge 16 sailing crafts, the owners being from<br />
Ulqini, but residents in <strong>Shkodra</strong> for generations.<br />
1944-1992: The massive fluvial transportation came to an<br />
end. In 1945 the State sequestrated 35 sailing crafts left (the owners<br />
being from <strong>Shkodra</strong> but of Ulqini origin) out of which only one,<br />
Saint Nicola, belonged to an owner from Saranda.<br />
The total isolation of Albania from Europe and the World<br />
from 1944 to 1992, the extremely centralized economy, the<br />
severance of capitalistic relations, the stalemate of the <strong>free</strong> market,<br />
the prohibition of any kind of trade, the expropriations and<br />
sequestration of the personal property, and the theft of private<br />
capital, finally ruined the economy of the City. Although Shkoder<br />
was until recently estimated as the second largest city in terms of the<br />
population, statistic data prove that in all aspects there were but very<br />
few investments (compared to those in other cities) made in the<br />
recent years.<br />
1992-1998: Even after the democratic system in Albania was<br />
decreed, the city, for a number of reasons, was lagging behind in<br />
terms of the economic development. In the course of accomplishing<br />
the post-communist transition in Albania, the economists, graduates<br />
of the University of Tirana, assumed the position of economic reform<br />
leaders not having the proper knowledge or data on the most<br />
appropriate comparative techniques to be used in Albania. The<br />
reformers of our times, because of unknown matters and dealing with<br />
unexpected subjective identifications, embarked on this mission<br />
without mastering the appropriate concepts or guidelines. As the<br />
worst and systematically damaged city in the past, the postcommunist<br />
transition repeated, in Shkoder, a tempest that<br />
24
considerably shook, also, the original social relations, which had<br />
been firmly crystallized over the past centuries. Being unable to<br />
properly understand the relationship between cultural and economic<br />
traditions, the transition reform leaders paid more attention to the<br />
naïve political requests rather than to the economic ones causing the<br />
deformation of the fundamental process - the <strong>free</strong> market<br />
performance. These “leaders”, who were educated and trained within<br />
limited democratic environments, often proved to have revolutionary<br />
tendencies in their activities, pushing everything to extremes. Such is<br />
the case of the unsolicited installation using the so-called "shock"<br />
therapy. The drastic fall in productivity, consumption, the increase in<br />
the inflation and the quasi-total unemployment, did outrageously<br />
polarize our society. The poor masses (the largest group of the new<br />
classification of the society) provoked by factors of the political<br />
hatred started very quickly to unleash their spite on the newlyenriched<br />
people (by speculation or fair means).<br />
The amateur courage of these reformers was not enough to<br />
completely change what was required. None of them made use of the<br />
analytical guidelines and descriptions that are necessary to<br />
accomplish the radical systematic interventions on the traditions of<br />
the past. However, it shouldn't be forgotten that the activity of the<br />
democratic system was, in reality, a pledge of the inheritance from<br />
the past years. The lack of the natural cultivation of the civil aid<br />
patriotic feelings, the imposition of “fear” upon the whole society<br />
(1944-1992), the flaws in the solution to the issue of the inherited<br />
property rights, the inability of the reform leaders to understand the<br />
successfully affirmed concepts and models to accomplish the<br />
changes, were all negative factors that delayed the elimination of the<br />
our communist inheritances. These factors had similar, restraining<br />
effects on the accomplishment of two basic objectives: the promotion<br />
of the market economy and creation of a political system evermore<br />
democratic. The lack of the historical experience to accomplish<br />
25
and implement a universal political platform, either of long- or shortterm,<br />
in order to carry out the desired changes, led to the tendency to<br />
imitate those countries already running market economies. Under<br />
these circumstances, a serious contradiction erupted between the<br />
political aim of the democracy and the economic aim of the <strong>free</strong><br />
market. As heirs of the communist consequences and ex-members of<br />
the old economic state system, super centralized and overloaded with<br />
an illogical, mixed, unreliable and not competitive industrial sector,<br />
none had the competence to clearly interpret the financial<br />
involvements, understand the essence of the market competitiveness<br />
and determine the best approaches to revitalize the demolished<br />
economy of our City.<br />
The privatization process which was neither quick nor slow,<br />
neither partial nor complete but, of course, not totally fair added<br />
destabilizing effects to the turmoil in the city and the surrounding<br />
rural areas. In the period from 1992 to this day, the high-ranking staff<br />
of the purposely set up departments, in order to carry out the<br />
economic privatization process, found it sufficient to implement a<br />
simplified model suitable to a <strong>free</strong> market sample that did not<br />
properly assess the social costs and political disorders. Without a<br />
necessary legal structure, a true multiparty system and consistent<br />
parliamentary procedures, not only did the true democracy and<br />
market economy fail to be built but also no business ethics were<br />
established.<br />
The diminution of the role of the state and its incapability to<br />
select and affect those policies, which progressively develop the<br />
social and physical infrastructure that the <strong>free</strong> market cannot fulfill,<br />
created the delicate interdependence of the democracy with a weak<br />
administrative state. The lack of long-term investments, the quasitotal<br />
unemployment and the total destruction of the state structures<br />
due to the <strong>free</strong>zing and collapse of the economy caused by the<br />
activities of the pyramid schemes, led the electoral Zone 8 to new<br />
elections, too.<br />
26
HOW SHOULD WE CONCEIVE THE ECONOMIC<br />
DEVELOPMENT?<br />
The final solution to the political problem, pro the victory of<br />
the democracy gives this <strong>zone</strong> the right to seek a safe path to the<br />
economic development. Under the current difficult circumstances,<br />
the people of this area are interested in implementing those economic<br />
policies that would guarantee the prosperity of Shkoder which, until<br />
today, has keen neglected by all. The mixed staff in charge of this<br />
very important task should have the full know-how of the reality<br />
inherited from the communist society and should possess the proper<br />
skills to choose and implement those economic policies that would<br />
be able to ensure a proper strategic economic process for the back<br />
warded region of <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
From the standpoint of some foreign economic experts and<br />
especially from some scholars of the Curtin University of<br />
Technology (Perth, Western Australia), the economic development<br />
plan of Shkoder city should focus on the immediate improvement of<br />
the economic welfare, without which no social harmony can be<br />
achieved. GDP per capita is the most important indicator of the<br />
economic development but it cannot be considered so reliable if it<br />
does not retain its positive values for a relatively long period. The<br />
economic growth of our region should be accepted as such only if<br />
there is a growth in the GDP. <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s economic development<br />
cannot be designed without including the factors of production, the<br />
improvement of the resource allocate ion and the rise in productivity<br />
of the factors of production. Everyone should know, particularly all<br />
the developers of the economic programs, that human capital is one<br />
of the fundamental resources for the economic growth and<br />
determines the value of the profit-making potential embodied to the<br />
individual. The human capital includes in itself: the respective talent<br />
(which is native), job ethics, working skills and capabilities.<br />
27
In an industrialized country, the “average worker” is more<br />
productive than his counterpart in a less developed country, such as<br />
the region of Shkoder. This happens, not only, because he or she<br />
possesses more physical capital but also because he or she has better<br />
job ethics and more working experience. The attainment of these<br />
important objectives is closely related to three important driving<br />
factors: education, industrialization and urban planning that started in<br />
these countries as early as the 18 th centuries and continued until the<br />
20 th century. Unlike the other countries of our continent, the new<br />
century finds Albania not properly affected by these powerful<br />
currents of development. The quick abolition of illiteracy in the<br />
second half of the 20 th century, the superficial education offered to<br />
communities, the neglect of all the actual teaching processes, the non<br />
- coordination of the teaching programs with those of modem<br />
European schools, etc, could also be seen as the results of the failure<br />
to carry out an effective industrialization of the country. The real<br />
development of industry implies the variety of those processes that<br />
create the economic need for an indispensable education.<br />
Nowadays, at time when electronics is being applied to all<br />
working environments, sophisticated equipment is being supplied to<br />
all the branches of economy, industry, army and road systems, the<br />
Albanian average worker does not have the kind of knowledge to<br />
keep step with his Balkan counterparts, let alone the European ones.<br />
The lack of the instructions to handle the industrial and military<br />
equipment, observed after the post-cold war exodus until the arrival<br />
of the military force “Alba” (1997), has convinced everyone of the<br />
reason why the Albanian workers and University graduates put on a<br />
common worker's - or soldier's uniform when they are in Europe or<br />
elsewhere. The Albanian “sui generis” education corresponds to the<br />
one of those categories of people who do not even know how to<br />
operate the buttons of an elevator and who, in the today’s western<br />
28
world, are referred to as the “bearers” of the modem illiteracy. In<br />
addition to the deficiencies caused by the ineffective education and<br />
industrialization, the present-day Albanian society has started to feel<br />
the harsh effects of the spontaneous and irregular urban planning. In<br />
conditions of serious overall economic poverty, the rural population,<br />
who is currently divorcing from the traditional life and rushing to<br />
urban areas, is seeking out solutions to the abnormal life they are<br />
living. Politically misled, most of them susceptible towards<br />
ambiguous party callings, at a moment when the religion is not<br />
playing its full role and in the splits of its inability various premature<br />
politicians are penetrating, the mixed population of our cities, not<br />
thinking hard enough and rushed by the indescribable hatred, is<br />
looking for anything, primarily food - meaning employment. In these<br />
days, when there is no production activity and the primitive industry<br />
has come to an end, Shkoder’s “abundant” labour market is keenly<br />
waiting to be educated and qualified. (Therefore, the government<br />
should also program the training of the human capital and that is<br />
carried out by official education (schools and courses) and extracurricular<br />
activities and the experience acquired in working<br />
activities. Education is one of the slowest factors of growth, but at<br />
the same time, it is the most important economic growth factor.<br />
The area of Shkoder, economically underdeveloped, finds it<br />
very hard to accumulate the production factors as well as the human<br />
and physical capital. The problem is the fact that the income levels<br />
are so low, that after the necessary expenses to cover for the minimal<br />
vital needs, there is very little income left to “purchase” as much<br />
education and physical capital. In today's Shkoder, economically<br />
ruined, the decision of whether the children and the youth should go<br />
to school or work is very hard, both for the families with very low<br />
incomes and for the government holding very limited financial<br />
29
esources. Thus, it might be concluded that it is impossible for the<br />
region to abruptly rise from a low-income levels to high ones. The<br />
economic growth, like the gradual accumulation of the factors of<br />
production, requires time. This process should influence the official<br />
economic strategists to distance themselves from the technical<br />
classical thinking and to try to shorten this time-period, by applying<br />
modern techniques that can attract investments.<br />
WHERE SHOULD THE STRATEGIC PROCESS FOR THE<br />
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT START?<br />
The efforts of our city to face the growing population and the<br />
economic requirements urged us to have a look at the clear traces of<br />
our city's economic self-administration in centuries, in order to<br />
clarify to some extend the reasons of the continuous economic<br />
decline after the Proclamation of Independence, and to take the<br />
courage to show how unprepared will, the new century, find us (the<br />
education being inefficient, the industry being destroyed and the<br />
urbanization being incomplete). It is about time that we do our best<br />
to set the priorities and take the proper decisions for the future. It<br />
should be taken into account that in our country the <strong>free</strong>-market is<br />
recently introduced. The economic process is taking its rise from a<br />
private, not consolidated sector with the help of incapable and<br />
unmotivated authorities from the local and central government.<br />
The mixed staff, charged with this very important mission, should<br />
detect all the possibilities of exploiting the resources efficiently in<br />
order to be able to face the great challenging factors expected to be<br />
introduced in the coming century.<br />
Certainly, we should consider the positive experience of our<br />
predecessors. We should also consider what has been<br />
30
plundered, the kinds of values we have been denied, the point we<br />
should start from, the primary goals we should set, our vision for the<br />
future, who should we accept as partners, the way to detach radically<br />
from this backwardness.<br />
The restoration of <strong>Shkodra</strong> port should be one of the<br />
main goals.<br />
Because of the illogical isolation of Albania due to the<br />
communist regime, <strong>Shkodra</strong> was deprived from the status of the<br />
intra-territorial port. It would be absurd not plan again the complete<br />
restoration of this port highly evaluated even from the modem naval<br />
academies. It has been proved that the birth of the city and the<br />
imposing building of Rorafat Citadel were because of the inland port<br />
of Buna. The port-city of <strong>Shkodra</strong> is one of the oldest cities in<br />
Europe and, as noted above, is documented in the ancient Greek and<br />
Roman pre-historic maps. Owing to the navigable Buna River and<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> Lake (the biggest in the Balkans), this vital mouth, for 24<br />
consecutive centuries, I was open and fed from navigating units<br />
coming from the Mediterranean countries, the Black Sea, some<br />
Atlantic Ocean regions. For the first time in 1944 (the establishment<br />
of the communist system in Albania), paradoxically for political<br />
motives, this port was closed causing in the region the worst general<br />
famine that followed since then up to present times.<br />
The metropolis of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, as quoted by Heredotus, managed to<br />
become the most flourishing centre of the 20 most developed centres<br />
of South Illyria. The economic growth of <strong>Shkodra</strong> can not be<br />
explained without mentioning its connection with the sea (the world)<br />
through Buna River.<br />
In 1502, after <strong>Shkodra</strong> was proclaimed “a city open to trade”,<br />
as a result of the fluvial route of Buna, the market of <strong>Shkodra</strong> turned<br />
to be a centre for the supply of goods in the major part of the<br />
countries surrounding the Adriatic Sea.<br />
The city’s <strong>free</strong>-market, rich in various manufactured articles<br />
(of 80 artisan groups), agricultural and animal products of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
region and other foreign goods processed or not processed by<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> traders, gave energy to the economic development and<br />
31
increased the financial revenues that the Turkish administration was<br />
not obliged to provide for the city. Being self-administrators of the<br />
economy, with a centuries long experience, unlike what we witness<br />
today, <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s businessmen were interested to keep fully efficient<br />
structures of the city administration, excellent port services, trade<br />
courts, post services, agencies and chambers of commerce, foreign<br />
and national banks, schools, multi-religious institutions, etc.<br />
At the present conditions of territorial, railway, fluvial and<br />
airline isolation because of lack of infrastructure development, we<br />
should insist more than ever to realize the 1895 project to transform<br />
Buna in a fluvial route along all its length. The Government has no<br />
reason to object this undertaking at a time when urgent measures<br />
should be taken to bring the river under control, because in the recent<br />
years and especially after the hydro- technical works over Drini<br />
River, the river-bed of Buna has undergone substantial changes.<br />
The Drini water that actually flows into Buna River is now<br />
clearer and <strong>free</strong>r of solid underneath materials, which means it<br />
possesses the proper considerable eroding power. No one has<br />
ascertained all these enormous changes. The most typical phenomena<br />
are clearly reflected in the riverbanks that continuously fall-down.<br />
The amplitude of water oscillations is about 6 meters at the vertical<br />
axis. This is clearly observed in the village of Dajç and Obot.<br />
The research studies show that each year the river corrodes<br />
1215 hectares of fertile agricultural ground. The continuous and<br />
highly intensified erosions in the villages of Dajç and Obot are<br />
seriously putting at risk the protective embankments and the<br />
inhabited centres. The corroded banks in many places have<br />
approached the embankments up to 10-15 meters.<br />
32
The transversal dikes, built up for this purpose, are ell out of<br />
use. In face of such a threatening situation for the population and<br />
agriculture, especially the local and central government should bear<br />
the proper responsibility and take immediate measures to protect the<br />
river-banks from the daily erosion in the inhabited areas.<br />
I he economic development of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region would be deeply<br />
incomplete in case we will not consider the projects, cit' the<br />
specialized EU departments and those of some well-known European<br />
and Asian companies etc, to deviate the outflow of Drini river into<br />
the sea and Kiri river into the hike. In the pilot project of EU “the<br />
navigable Buna”, recently handed over to the Municipality of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, the river is highly evaluated as a “transversal route”<br />
connecting the Adriatic corridor with segments of no. 5 and no. 10<br />
corridor transgressing the ring of the port-city of Shkoder.<br />
By recalling our memory, we hope to enlighten the minds of<br />
the E.D.B. (Economic Development Boards) so that they will not<br />
forget the fact that only after 1948 did our city loses its role as an<br />
internal port and with it almost everything.<br />
It is enough to remind that only during the last two years two<br />
foreign companies have presented their requests for the revitalization<br />
of the fluvial route of Buna (25-30 years concessions). Referring to<br />
their projects, the revitalization of the port and the continuous<br />
renewal of navigation along the whole length of Buna River require a<br />
financial capital of 5 million U.S.A dollars, an amount less than the<br />
value of the damages caused by the river floods which swallow up<br />
each year 12-15 hectares of land.<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> has had its fleet<br />
The experienced fleet of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, as described by Tuciditi and Tit<br />
Livi (B.C.), had 120 ships and in the new epoch, Peter Rosa<br />
33
(the Venice consul) reported it to have 300 units and 5000 sailors in<br />
the period 1707- 1809 and at the beginning of 19 th century it had 400<br />
ships.<br />
Sailing vessels in the port of Shkoder<br />
The failure to be connected, in 1872, to the trans-Balkans<br />
railway network and the inefficient and partial use of the fluvial route<br />
because of the failure of 1895 project, left <strong>Shkodra</strong> out of the modern<br />
railway transportation and to the mercy of natural fluvial<br />
transportation.<br />
In such unfavourable conditions, like never before, during the<br />
19 th century up to the end of the first half of the 20 th century, the<br />
quay of Ulqini, Tivari and Shengjin were put in the service of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> port. The activation of all navigation equipments reinforced<br />
further the maritime trade domination in all Albanian regions<br />
inherited from the 18 th century and strengthened its traffic control<br />
that embraced even the quay of Vlora.<br />
The intensification of the river-to-sea transportation increased<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>’s relations with the friendly markets, providing, in this way,<br />
sufficient revenues. But in this time, <strong>Shkodra</strong> had already started to<br />
decline and was suffering, more than ever, from the isolation -caused<br />
by the lack of infrastructure.<br />
34
Inspired by Sir Stanford Raffles (who, in 1819, after<br />
declaring Singapore a “<strong>free</strong> port”, transformed the backward island,<br />
with a territory 647,5 square km, into one the most developed centres<br />
of the Southeast Asian region) the outstanding diplomat Mr. Spencer,<br />
the missionary of Foreign Office for the Balkans in Shkoder, during<br />
Second half of 19 th century reported to London “…steam- ships of<br />
hundreds of tons cargo sail in the Buna River and the lake towards<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> city. Therefore, if <strong>Shkodra</strong> is declared a <strong>free</strong> port and joins<br />
the Trans Serbia-Danube road, will become very important in the<br />
region.”<br />
Right at this moment the sailing boats of <strong>Shkodra</strong> and Ulqini<br />
were on competition with the Austrian steam-ships that were sailing<br />
on Buna River since the beginning of 19 th century. <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s<br />
reaction in fact was not delayed. The supremacy of the Austrians<br />
represented mainly by the steam-ships of Lloyd Company started to<br />
feel the competing effect of the city owner’s steam-ships. In<br />
competition with Lloyd Company, Jak Muzhani managed to buy the<br />
yacht of the Bianchi Family (very luxurious and modern for that<br />
time).<br />
The port-city of Shkoder, 1917<br />
35
“Scutari” steamship of Muzhani family<br />
Peasants from the regions watered by Buna River waiting in front<br />
of the Customs Building. The picture shows boat no. 33 full of soldiers, a<br />
fact showing that the transport with these simple means of navigation,<br />
too, was under the control of the administration of the port-city of Shkoder<br />
36
Montenegrin steamship in the port of Shkoder<br />
Austrian steamship in the port of Shkoder<br />
37
Steamship of the mercantile-fleet of Shkoder<br />
“Antivari” steamship of Shkoder fleet<br />
38
Steamship of Shkoder in the river<br />
of Buna<br />
This yacht together with the Scutari, Vilajet and Fantasy steamers,<br />
the last one bought from the widow of Arciduche Maximilian (who<br />
was killed in Mexico in 1867) made up the Muzhani family fleet.<br />
Like all the other steamers belonging to <strong>Shkodra</strong>, the fleet of<br />
Muzhani family sailed holding the Turkish flag. In their interests, the<br />
city’s fleet transported passengers, goods, various materials and<br />
performed postal services, sailing northern areas like the ports of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, Obot, Shengjin, Venice, Trieste and the southern routes to<br />
Vlora, Preveza, Alexandria particularly to Malt-Bengazi.<br />
It is worth mentioning that at that time the journeys were<br />
organised in a fixed time-table. In <strong>Shkodra</strong> one could find a trans-<br />
Mediterranean basin passenger ship. It would be sufficient to realize<br />
that the journey from <strong>Shkodra</strong> to Trieste lusted 48 hours.<br />
The reason for mentioning the above facts is not draw in<br />
details <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s fl eet and its navigable units but to<br />
give<br />
39
credible arguments and show, first of all, that this city has existed<br />
because of its port status and its closure was a big mistake, one of the<br />
most aggravating factors to drive the social-economic backwardness<br />
in last 50 years.<br />
Even on the present conditions of fluvial transportation<br />
(without any investment in the river), the coming of an ordinary<br />
passenger ferry in <strong>Shkodra</strong> would be very possible.<br />
It would be enough to hear the ferry siren today and<br />
tomorrow it would be justifiable to open a consulate and other<br />
foreign representative offices, as well as, all the administrative<br />
structures that are actually missing in the port-city of <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
We should develop the infrastructure we don’t have<br />
The start of the democratic process in 1992 implied the real<br />
unification of Shkoder with Europe and the world through<br />
a concrete infrastructure.<br />
Years<br />
passed and, unfortunately, no infrastructure was<br />
build. Instead, priority was given to subjective linkages (adheresions,<br />
associations with international organisations and counterparts,<br />
exchanges of envoys of all kinds) that the experience has proved that<br />
they cannot<br />
resist for long. It is about time not to waste any more of<br />
it trying to establish new “friendships”, but it the time to embark on<br />
the most important undertaking - the construction of the<br />
infrastructure at home and beyond the state borders towards Europe<br />
and further more. In 1858, the Austrian Consul in Albania wrote to<br />
Vienna that in the near future the Thessaloniki harbour would<br />
eclipse<br />
Shkoder’s market because it was connected with land roads that<br />
were in better condition than those of <strong>Shkodra</strong> port-city. Without<br />
the infrastructure in place, we cannot dodge the image of a small,<br />
poor and isolated country. Appropriate departments of both<br />
central<br />
and local<br />
government should accept projects that fulfil our needs<br />
40
and<br />
those of the regional countries. It would be absurd if our foreign<br />
policy inclination would be to “sacrifice” our vital interests for the<br />
sake of the politically engineered business and fraudulent diplomatic<br />
agreements. It would be an unforgivable mistake to neglect of the<br />
corridor Durres-Istanbuland<br />
and its angular extension across the<br />
Republic of Greece, which, because of the geopolitics imposition<br />
has<br />
often suffered from the land isolation from the surrounding countries.<br />
According to the declaration of the present Italian Prime<br />
Minister<br />
Prodi, this project represents a sure prospective to the development<br />
not only of Albania but also of the back warded South Italy.<br />
Detfer, a regional analyst, has insisted that the West-East<br />
trajectory of the telephone cable coming now from the Apennine<br />
Peninsula, as well as, the West-East course of the railway segment<br />
that links Albania, through Montenegro, to the centre of Europe,<br />
should<br />
be considered as the guide for n mere, far-reaching and<br />
meaningful<br />
policy to construct the infrastructure we lack. The<br />
coming of the telephone cable from Italy, the tendency of Austria<br />
and other Central European countries to get access to the sea through<br />
Shengjin, the decision of the European Union to revive the Durres-<br />
Istanbul highway - the energetic artery, as well as, the predisposition<br />
of certain European companies to accomplish the “navigable Bune”<br />
project, prove that in the East coastline of the Adriatic sea (Balkans),<br />
only the Albanian ports are situated in the shortest passage of this sea<br />
to the Western coastline (the Apennine Peninsula). Using the same<br />
reasoning as those of the old Romans, the new Europeans and today's<br />
government officials, we need to understand that the revitalization of<br />
the river-route of Buna to Adriatic (44 km long), the connection of<br />
the Shkoder inland pori with the future modern railway “Trans<br />
Montenegro-Europe” (that will be reconstructed almost according to<br />
the trajectory of the Shengjin-Ferizaj project of 1872), and the<br />
41
construction of the Durres-Istanbul highway, provide to Central<br />
European countries a shorter access to the sea and shorten in<br />
maximum the land area that is confined within the “water siphon”<br />
from Durres to Istanbul (the regions watered by the Adriatic and<br />
Black Sea). It is a fact that the construction of the sea ports along the<br />
Albanian coast and of <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s inland port has historically<br />
determined the direction of the Balkan roads. It is known that all the<br />
main strategic commercial roads converged in our ground ending up<br />
in the Albanian seaports to load and unload the goods coming from<br />
the East or West. Especially from 1992 onwards, the Western and<br />
Asian economic<br />
analysts have continuously advised that the key<br />
strategy for the economic recovery of Albania, especially of the<br />
artificially back warded north, should start from the rehabilitation of<br />
the roads according to the most up-to-date standards of the modern<br />
transportation. (... Unfortunately, today, some of government<br />
officials are trying to deform the East-West corridor of Egnatia into a<br />
village lane, 7-8 m wide). Albania had and still has many requests for<br />
concessions, BOOT, 25-30 years bid invitations to construct the<br />
above-mentioned inter-country roads, as well as, intra-country roads<br />
such as the highway and railway of Malesi e Gjakoves-Konispol (the<br />
railway with its serrate extensions reaches the deepest territories like<br />
Kelmendi, Dukagjini, etc.), the international airport in Koplik-<br />
Postopoje and Bushat (according to the Italian project of 1939), five<br />
domestic airports and the immediate construction of the <strong>Shkodra</strong>-<br />
Podgorice highway and railway.<br />
According to the best-known business analysts, the Balkans<br />
peninsula has a big investment potential that was not realised due to<br />
certain conflicts or the fear of war. The accomplishment of the<br />
above-mentioned investments in infrastructure is a strong driving<br />
factor to turn Albania into an economically powerful country, with<br />
a<br />
strong trade performance, and political stability.<br />
42
In this way, Albania would be able to contribute to the neutralization<br />
of the risks threatening the equilibrium between the Balkan<br />
countries, without which there is no reason for the foreign<br />
businessmen to invest in Albania. To accomplish the extension and<br />
modernization of our seaports, there is clear information it the central<br />
government reasons, like in the past when Albania was isolated<br />
from<br />
the world, in concordance with their local services. After the opening<br />
of Albania in 1992 a new development strategy was expected for the<br />
seaports of the Northern part of Albania, since they met all the<br />
geographical conditions to become “international” ports (such as<br />
Durres, Shengjin and <strong>Shkodra</strong>). It is now the time to insist on the<br />
accomplishment of the unification of our ports with the European<br />
highways and railways and, then, deal with the investments that meet<br />
the needs of the local tourism industry and travel agencies. In order<br />
to make more profits most of the coastal countries have created<br />
many<br />
facilities and services in their ports, the reduction or removal of taxes<br />
in order to attract the clientele of the non-coastal neighbouring<br />
countries. Therefore, besides the coverage of the Northern area,<br />
Shkoder and Shengjin should develop to such a point so that they are<br />
ready to serve the needs of Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnie-Hercegovina,<br />
and other Central European countries. Whereas Durres would cover<br />
Macedonia, Bulgaria and the entire labyrinth of the Asian route<br />
network ending in Istanbul. Only in this way, the forgotten North<br />
Albania, and the chief-town of Shkoder, will regain the lost<br />
economic authority. Of all the above-mentioned<br />
countries, it is<br />
estimated<br />
that 55-75% of the goods flows will occur through our<br />
seaports.<br />
I t should be borne in mind that the government could invest<br />
in relatively unproductive projects, or likewise, could pursue a policy<br />
that would encourage unproductive private investments.<br />
43
By analyzing, let’s say, the ‘principles’ of the planning of<br />
state funds and strategies for the seaports development, the<br />
government decision to allocate development funds to Saranda<br />
rather<br />
than to Shengjin seaport, or better to Vlore and nothing to Shengjin<br />
and <strong>Shkodra</strong> seaports, is considered wrong. We base this judgment<br />
on the archived expert opinions in these fields and, also, on the<br />
recent data of Muchel company (a French company assigned by the<br />
World Bank to accomplish the master-plan for the development of<br />
the Albanian ports), showing that all the Southern seaports (the port<br />
of Vlore is classified in the second category) due to their mountain<br />
ranges surrounding them, are considered as isolated from the Eastern<br />
part of Albania and Balkans.<br />
This rationale is enough to understand their distinction from<br />
the Northern seaports, in this case from the ports of Shengjin and<br />
Shkoder (<strong>free</strong> of any geographical obstacle), which seating next to<br />
the only railway leaving Albania towards Montenegro-Europe, meet<br />
all the conditions to become international ports and have all the<br />
chances to turn into unloading centres and confluent points for all<br />
the<br />
roads of Northern Albania, East Balkan countries, as well as those of<br />
Central Europe that do not have access to the sea. Talking about<br />
seaports and based upon the experience of the countries with<br />
advanced port services, it would be much more effective if the<br />
development investment were carried out in the Shengjin seaport<br />
rather than that of Saranda.<br />
It is not by chance that in 1939 the preparatory works to<br />
extend the Shengjin port to the lagoon of “Knalla”, at its entrance,<br />
started. Because<br />
of its natural location, Knalla region is very suitable<br />
for the port extension. Besides the water depth which permits<br />
shipments of heavy tonnage, the vast land space which exists in the<br />
Knalla lagoon also permits the building of enormous stores<br />
and the<br />
installation of loading and unloading equipments (cranes, etc.).<br />
Referring to the Italian project, Shengjin has all the potentials to<br />
become a port times bigger than that of Durres and one of the biggest<br />
44
of Adriatic corridor.<br />
The unification of the inland port of <strong>Shkodra</strong> and the seaport<br />
of Shengjin with the railway and highway network of Montenegro, as<br />
well as the connection of the seaport of Durres with Istanbul through<br />
corridor No.8, are expected with great interest also from the North<br />
Italian maritime transportation companies. The transportation of<br />
goods between the countries of Central Europe and Asia through the<br />
ports of the Albanian upper half (<strong>Shkodra</strong>, Shengjin, Durres) is of<br />
great advantage, especially, for Trieste, Venice and Ancona, since it<br />
is done via the shortest trans-Balkanics routes, implying also lesser<br />
expenses. As noted above, we may deduce that the government<br />
would be less interested in undertaking or promoting investments in<br />
the seaports designed for limited regional services, as it happened in<br />
the period of the closed and super-centralized socialist economy,<br />
rather than in those which perform a wide variety of services not<br />
only in their areas, but also as far as the heart of Europe.<br />
While waiting for the construction of the inner land<br />
infrastructure, communicating with corridors No. 5 and No. 10 and<br />
the neighbouring countries (respecting the most advanced and up-to<br />
date standards), in order to gain its vitality, our city should<br />
immediately make use of the railway transportation - still fully intact,<br />
the lake transportation using a tow-boat and other navigating units<br />
suitable for this purpose, and also all kinds of hydroplane<br />
transportation by making use of the lake surface. (Some companies<br />
have offered such services).<br />
What shall we include in the strategic process of the economic<br />
development?<br />
Conscious of the inadequate and defective instructions in<br />
schools of economics in Tirana and the lack of experience in the<br />
the<br />
45
market economy game,<br />
the staff in charge of this mission is obliged<br />
to co-operate<br />
with their compatriots overseas (the Diaspora in<br />
Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Asia) and also with qualified<br />
partners of the western hemisphere residing in Albania. We must pay<br />
very much attention to the recognition of their status, their operating<br />
limits, the co-operation rules, the concrete indicators of the outcome<br />
of their undertakings in <strong>Shkodra</strong>. The co-operation with foreign<br />
experts means also profound studies focused on the future, aims for<br />
the realisation of concrete projects compiled in compliance with the<br />
natural sources and resources.<br />
Planning should be as objective as possible because only in<br />
this way it can encourage the intervention of the management groups<br />
in the daily realisation of the strategy chosen to face the<br />
unpredictable changes and respond to unexpected situations. Owning<br />
the 1/10 of territory and almost this much of the Albanian<br />
population, the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong> holds the first place for the electric<br />
energy production, water resources, industrial and geological<br />
reserves of cooper and poly-metals, useful non-metal minerals, and<br />
the second place in the wood industry.<br />
Of special importance is the enormous and ‘proteinic’<br />
mine<br />
of the lake and Buna river, and the very rich market with a youngage<br />
labour force (considerably qualified for classic and modem<br />
manufactured production).<br />
The planning of the economic development should be done<br />
based on a rational model where<br />
the concretising, successive<br />
thinking<br />
and action should combine in harmony.<br />
There can’t be any exploitation of forests without their<br />
revitalisation.<br />
Until 1950, Albania was evaluated as being one of the five richest<br />
European countries in forests. During the 19501985 period, the<br />
socialist government sponsored the auto destructive policy of<br />
46
deforestation (to create new agricultural lands). The state enterprises<br />
established for this purpose, in the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong> alone, have<br />
destroyed each year a 30 hectares area of various timber forests that<br />
existed since ancient times.<br />
Actually, the forests in the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong> cover an area of<br />
54,410 hectares or 35.8% of the whole <strong>Shkodra</strong> territory. Regarding<br />
the way these forests were administered, 31,560 hectares or 58% of<br />
the entire forested surface and 3,456,000 m<br />
of the total volume are medium<br />
forests;<br />
eties of<br />
ps<br />
ll around Europe for its<br />
diversi<br />
e<br />
smetic industries (complete studies and<br />
invento<br />
s<br />
in goals of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>’s economic development strategic process. It is necessary to<br />
naturally<br />
vive the forests using seeds, grafting and<br />
terventions with modem artificial techniques.<br />
3 or 75% of the total<br />
volume are tall forests; 13,400 hectares or 25% of the forested<br />
surface and 718,000 m 3 or 15%<br />
and 9,450 hectares or 17% of the total surface and 376,000<br />
m 3 or 10% of the total volume are low forests.<br />
In the forests of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region, there are 54 vari<br />
woods, not mentioning the rare exemplars. It is enough to say that<br />
300 hectares of land are occupied with chestnut-trees.<br />
In the coastal part of our region (<strong>zone</strong> of Velipoja) there are<br />
328 hectares of natural and cultivated forests and 5 watery swam<br />
having a surface of 302 hectares. All these 630 hectares make up<br />
Velipoja’s hunting resort well-known a<br />
ty of flora, fauna, domestic and migratory birds, etc.<br />
The forests in the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong> have a great and divers<br />
potential of medical, tannic and ethereal-oil plants wanted by the<br />
pharmaceutical, medical, co<br />
ries of these plants exist).<br />
The revitalisation of our forests should be considered a<br />
the most important engagement and one of the ma<br />
fulfil all the conditions and provide the necessary means to<br />
or imposingly re<br />
in<br />
47
o<br />
are realising here what is legally<br />
prohibi<br />
y<br />
0 m 3<br />
In order to end the further destruction of forests we should<br />
stop their exploitation from foreign companies, forced by the law t<br />
quit their productive activities at home, which in the name of<br />
“philanthropic” investments<br />
ted in their countries. The Albanian lawmakers cannot keep<br />
silent and not change the technical regulations and legal structures by<br />
which out of the 3 456 000 m<br />
as been destined to<br />
industr<br />
and<br />
specula<br />
.<br />
profess<br />
d in<br />
e with our forests and breathe<br />
through<br />
city<br />
3 volume of tall forests, 2 346 000 m 3<br />
have been destined to fulfil the requirements of the wood industr<br />
and 1 110 000 m3 destined to satisfy the heating needs (burning<br />
wood); out of the 718 000 m 3 volume of medium forests, 220 00<br />
have been selected for industrial use and 498 000 m 3 for burning<br />
wood; all the low forests volume (376 000 m 3 ) h<br />
ial use and burning wood.<br />
It is the time for us to think about the revitalisation of the<br />
forests and not their exploitation. It is an unreasonable<br />
tive (giving way to abuses) principle to allocate to the<br />
industry only the timbers of more than 10 cm diameter.<br />
The exploitation of forests should cease for a period of at<br />
least 25 years and their cutting should be limited at the maximum<br />
The cutting of the woods should always be observed by the<br />
ionals and according to the natural changes and physiological<br />
requirement of the timber resources that are preliminarily specifie<br />
the official protocols as unavoidable and necessary.<br />
Only in this way we can liv<br />
their filter.<br />
Fifty years ago they have been present even inside the<br />
while today they have moved away but still not so much, 20- 41 km<br />
far.<br />
We should learn from the successful experience<br />
of the foreigners.<br />
It would be of great interest to base the identification of <strong>Shkodra</strong>'s<br />
48
development<br />
strategies on the most successful economic policies,<br />
proved as such in their prior implementations in several countries of<br />
the world. The abandoning of the agricultural economy policies<br />
and<br />
the adoption of the industrial economy policies, lead to the economic<br />
growth experienced by the industrialised countries. One of the<br />
essential factors of the positive changes in the economies of these<br />
countries, was the initial super growth in agricultural productivity. At<br />
the same time, there was a very quick growth in the contemporary<br />
manufactural production. The fact that both these factors have<br />
encouraged the modem development of these countries, implies that<br />
industrialisation is the key to development. As a conclusion, the first<br />
thing to do, in the original region of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, is to target the growth<br />
in agricultural production and, simultaneously,<br />
to allocate the<br />
financial resources for the industrialisation of the region. We should<br />
be cautious that the industries to emerge would have the necessary<br />
development level to produce at low costs, since “small industries”<br />
are unable to do so.<br />
Taking into consideration the agreements of the ‘80s, the<br />
major part of the countries agreed to reduce the barriers of trade<br />
in<br />
order to be able to participate in the world market. Our economists,<br />
too, should support the liberalisation of imports by reducing the<br />
tariffs and quotas and promoting exports (if necessary,<br />
through<br />
currency<br />
devaluations by means of direct measures, etc...).<br />
Our economic<br />
strategy that could serve the Shkoder City is<br />
the outward-oriented<br />
development strategy. According to this<br />
strategy, the relations with the export markets have a positive<br />
influence<br />
on the domestic producers, thus improving the quality of<br />
their goods. The export of the domestic products versus foreign<br />
imports is accompanied with the drive or incentive to improve the<br />
quality<br />
of the goods and increase their sales. The best example of the<br />
49
effects of this incentive, experienced in the adopting outwardoriented<br />
development strategies, is clearly shown in the success of<br />
the newly industrialised economies, NIE (Newly Industrialised<br />
Economies), of East Asia. They include the so-called “Four Tigers”,<br />
i.e.: Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as Malaysia,<br />
Thailand and Indonesia, which are right behind corner. The last three<br />
have started to grow tremendously, but leading them all is Japan.<br />
Mainly due to the increase of the manufactural exports,<br />
during the last two decades, not only did the economies of these<br />
countries experience rapid growths but, until recently, they escaped<br />
the current world-wide economic crisis and, what matters most,<br />
resolved the unemployment problem.<br />
At the beginning, having as a primary aim the protection, of<br />
the small producers, these states did generally refuse the <strong>free</strong> entry of<br />
imports. Unlike the forecasted projections of our economy planners,<br />
it was only after some<br />
time, when improvements in the domestic<br />
products<br />
were witnessed, that the NIE economic leaders, with a<br />
sound reasoning,<br />
changed tactics by allowing the <strong>free</strong> entry of<br />
imports. Their objective was premeditated; the <strong>free</strong> entry of imports<br />
exposed the interests of the domestic producers to the game and<br />
lessons of the <strong>free</strong> market competition.<br />
It is obvious that in each of these cases, the adoption of the<br />
outward-oriented growth strategies, alone, is not enough. The<br />
success es of the “Tigers” economies are also closely related to their<br />
very high interest rate savings (up to 40%), utilised also to finance<br />
the official education (schools, courses), as mentioned earlier.<br />
Usually, the “Tigers” have shown to be conservative in their fiscal<br />
policies and have approved a small government budget compared to<br />
the GDP.<br />
50
How<br />
should the government role on the economic<br />
development be evaluated?<br />
For many centuries the population of our region has lived<br />
making use of the land, water, and forests and, during the last<br />
decades, exploiting useful minerals.<br />
The way these resources are processed, exploited and used,<br />
determines the level of the economy, the security, the health and the<br />
prosperity<br />
of our region.<br />
The deep backwardness we have inherited in all fields,<br />
essentially, has its origin in the extremely centralised leadership of<br />
the economy (from the capital city). It is the time to insist on the<br />
decentralisation of the governing, according<br />
to the Carte of<br />
Strasbourg.<br />
Nevertheless, the initiatives to prepare the strategic<br />
process of the economic development for the back warded region of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> should respect the tendency of the central government to<br />
avoid decisions that feed or lead to social-economic crises, and<br />
support all the efforts to shorten as fast as possible the transition<br />
period and face the changes that the 21 (the<br />
don as soon as possible<br />
the tota<br />
t we base the economic development process on a strategy<br />
where besides the permanent resources (being the sun, light and<br />
water), an important place should be given also to the exploitation of<br />
resources that nature grants only once (the minerals).<br />
st century holds in itself<br />
unsuitable position in an environment of trade liberalization and<br />
economic globalisation).<br />
No doubts, our interest is to aban<br />
l backwardness and develop the economy on strong<br />
foundations.<br />
In a country of 3.4 million of people, our city has all the<br />
possibilities to solve the inherited problems. Famous European<br />
analysts are not only optimistic but are also confident that <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
and its surroundings with a population of 224,557 inhabitants can<br />
accomplish the needed modernisation within a 3-4 years period. It is<br />
enough tha<br />
51
Brian Shinner (USA) is right when he says “The great<br />
empires reached their universal prosperity<br />
when they were able to<br />
excavate<br />
and exploit at low costs the mineral resources and vanished<br />
together<br />
with the destruction of these resources”.<br />
The universal development of the most industrialised<br />
countries in the world (G 7) is mainly achieved through the<br />
exploitation<br />
of flammable minerals (petrol, gas, coal, mud of coal<br />
bitumen, radioactive elements, metal and non-metal minerals. Since<br />
many kinds of metals have<br />
been destroyed and those that remain are<br />
deep-down the earth requiring big expenses to excavate and process<br />
them (fuel to melt expensive pigments used to stop the corroding<br />
activity), during the last 2-3 decades it is witnessed the tendency to<br />
substitute metals with non-metal minerals. It is becoming more<br />
evident in the technical-scientific literature that the indicator of a<br />
country industrialisation level is being based on the increasing<br />
inclusion of non-metals and avoidance of metals. According to the<br />
research data, it is shown that out of 70 non-metal minerals<br />
discovered in the entire Albania, 40 of them can be found in the<br />
region of <strong>Shkodra</strong> - Lezha. This other gift of God should be highly<br />
valued by the local authorities of our region because these non-metal<br />
minerals, considering their<br />
excavation volume and value (in dollars,<br />
etc.), are ranking second after the fuels leaving the metal minerals<br />
in<br />
the third place.<br />
The simplest<br />
European citizen is well informed that the<br />
primary responsibility of local government is the economic<br />
development. In the hard economic conditions, this government first<br />
should supervise and reduce to the tolerable limits its administration<br />
expenses and the parasite staff, interrupt the needless activities such<br />
as ceremonies, celebrations, trips abroad.<br />
The leaders of the local government should consider the<br />
interests of those from which they were elected and espeally of<br />
52
those u nemployed. They should do their best to keep the prices of the<br />
main articles under control, not to allow the daily suffering of the<br />
poor and ruination, in general, of the educational and medical service<br />
level.<br />
The development of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region should be based on<br />
the<br />
most appropriate bilateral and multilateral economic interdependence<br />
inside and outside the country. We should analyse the successes and<br />
achievements of others to see if they are applicable to our economy.<br />
We should not isolate ourselves from the progresses of the others; it<br />
is time to throw down the “Chinese wall” of ideological, political,<br />
racial, religious, etc. hatred. The new leadership of the oldest city in<br />
the Balkans and one of the oldest in Europe has suffered from the<br />
isolation period and should not forget at any time the lesson: “to stay<br />
alone means to experience backwardness”. Considering the fact that<br />
the hydro-energy reserves of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region are enough to satisfy<br />
the demands of some regional countries for electric energy and the<br />
deficit (40%) of the neighbouring Republic of Montenegro, even<br />
we<br />
can profit from their advanced level of industry and technology<br />
without damaging the planned production and as a small region, we<br />
should not spend money to reconstruct and install different types of<br />
technologies.<br />
The completion of the industrial chain we wish to achieve<br />
should not submit<br />
itself to the rule of turns. No investment should be<br />
refused under the pretext that, in our economic development plans,<br />
it<br />
is foreseen sometime in the first decade of the coming century.<br />
In<br />
order to solve the unemployment problem, the local government<br />
should welcome investments, especially those that tend to implement<br />
long term and important projects. The requirements of the economic<br />
development hold responsible the leaders of<br />
the local government if<br />
they accept transplantation of used or out-dated technology, coming<br />
from E.U or more distant countries, instead of modern technologies.<br />
53
Taking into account the gist of what has been introduced so<br />
far, we should to turn the eyes on the role of the government and its<br />
functions regarding the economic development methods. As to this,<br />
there are<br />
contradicting opinions, but in general, there are two<br />
ultimate<br />
points of view:<br />
• First, the Government might decide to perform a leadership<br />
role in the economic process.<br />
• Second, the Government might decide to keep aloof from the<br />
economic issues.<br />
The East Asian newly industrialised countries have a long<br />
experience in this field. First, it is worth mentioning the complete<br />
“laissez- faire” approach, as applied in Hong Kong. Second, the other<br />
extreme consists of the government's general intervention into the<br />
running of the economy, as applied in South Korea until the '80s.<br />
The experts’ views have converged on the point that the<br />
government should play its part in running the economic activities,<br />
by developing a solid legal macro-economic environment leading to<br />
the economic progress. Unfortunately, the governments of many<br />
“developing countries”<br />
are full of parasitic and very incompetent<br />
personnel,<br />
sometimes so corrupt, that they are not able to perform the<br />
right interventions.<br />
Hence, a question arises: Is it possible for the poor country<br />
economies like <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s economy, to reach the level of the<br />
industrialised economies? According to the opinions of most<br />
economists graduated from the Tirana University, this is hard to be<br />
achieved, but we are convinced that we have all the possibilities to be<br />
successful in this aspect. <strong>Shkodra</strong> has all the necessary grounds to<br />
accomplish its goals all it needs is to strictly adopt the Japanese<br />
method.<br />
54
In what<br />
kinds of investments are the foreigners<br />
interested?<br />
Referring to the files of the cross-sectional studies concerning<br />
the investing potentials in the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, the foreigners have<br />
paid attention to the following:<br />
Construction of hydropower - stations<br />
The region of <strong>Shkodra</strong> ranks first as far as the hydro-<br />
energetic<br />
reserves are concerned and has drawn the attention of the<br />
forei gn companies to exploit them. Up to now, they have offered to<br />
build one hydropower-station located the fountainhead of Buna river<br />
(according to Mehdi Frasheri’s ideas in 1940), three on Shala river<br />
(Dulcagjin) and one on the deviated Drini river (Bushat). In the<br />
following table we will present the main data.<br />
No H.P.S Power (kW, MW) Production(kW/hr, MW/hr) Building Cost<br />
1 Buna 10.000 kW/hr 50 million kW/hr 15 million USD<br />
2 Dukagjin 2.000 kW/hr 11.000 million kW/hr 2 million USD<br />
3 = 9.000 kW/hr 48.000 million kW/hr 11 million USD<br />
4 = 9.000 kW/hr 49.000 million kW/hr 12 million USD<br />
5 Bushat 2 x 40 MW 350 million kW/hr 160 million USD<br />
Out of all the hydro-energetic centres (HEC) that of Buna<br />
is<br />
to be constructed for the first time in our country since it will be<br />
elevated on a field river. We should pay special attention to the<br />
ecological issues concerning the content of the water and its<br />
movements from the lake to the sea and vice-versa.<br />
In order to defend the fauna the construction of an<br />
appropriate passage (according to the Scandinavian countries’<br />
practice) is indispensable. The production of electric energy<br />
55
in the HPS number 2,3,4 is achieved using PELTON standard<br />
turbines while in those of Bursa and Bushati using BULB standard<br />
turbines.<br />
The construction of the small HPSs, within the Alps areas<br />
(that hold great potentials for the industry of tourism) and close to<br />
the Montenegrin regions in need of electric energy, is of great<br />
interest<br />
to the investors. This is due to the amount of the produced<br />
electric current and the guaranteed market as well as the low costs<br />
resulting<br />
from the minimal losses in the transmission.<br />
Excluding Bushati HPS it is possible to produce, only from<br />
the small HPSs (1,2,3,4), a 30 MW power that can approximately<br />
provide 160 million kW/hr in a year, which means (1000 kW = 30<br />
USD) 4.8 million USD an amount that equals the annual budget<br />
allocated by the Government to the District of <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
- Marina Harbour for Yachts and Cruise boats.<br />
(Restoration of the inland port of <strong>Shkodra</strong>)<br />
- The “ Navigable Buna” Project (essentially similar to that of<br />
18 95) inte nds to implemen t the all time (seaso ns around)<br />
transition<br />
across the fluv ial highway of the fifth category (105x 12x3<br />
m) units.<br />
- The construction of tourist ports and small wharve s along the<br />
la ke and riverbanks. - The cons truction of roads on both banks of the Buna<br />
River and<br />
the eastern bank of the lake (the roads on the western bank of the<br />
lake exist).<br />
The transformation of <strong>Shkodra</strong> into an intermediate tourist<br />
centre<br />
The favourable geographical position, the intertwined blue Adriatic<br />
and green and white alpine tourist routes, confined by the transparent<br />
waters of three rivers and the lake, and the great popularity as<br />
an<br />
56
inland port city has drawn the attention of the world’s most well<br />
known comparatives as far as the tourist industry is concerned.<br />
Considering<br />
the unpleasant experience and many past mistakes of the<br />
western tourist centres, the main aim of the investors is already<br />
known to us.<br />
They intend to build in <strong>Shkodra</strong> a modem tourism industry,<br />
being qualitative, cultural, environmental and able to satisfy the<br />
tastes of the clients coming from all around the world and fulfil the<br />
demands of all the generations.<br />
In their projects, a special attention is paid to the development<br />
of tourism in harmony with the protection of the environment and the<br />
natural watery life, fauna and flora.<br />
It is paid a special attention to the requirements for a mine<br />
infrastructure and the perfection of tourism industry services<br />
(roads,<br />
water piping, electricity supply, telecommunication because together<br />
with the enormous attract we potential of the environmental<br />
resources, they create a lot of recreation facilities<br />
providing to the<br />
region<br />
of <strong>Shkodra</strong> new gifts. These gifts are to be included in the<br />
itineraries of the tourist tour “mosaics” planned in the Mediterranean<br />
basin, in the form of navigation to a satisfactory destination in all<br />
aspects.<br />
- Placing<br />
Rozafa citadel and five fortresses of the nearby small cities<br />
under the exploitation of tourism business.<br />
The fate of Rozafa citadel is safe because it is well protected<br />
and<br />
as such will be given priority in the project of the Adriatic<br />
Venetian castles.<br />
The city of Venice, Emilia-Romania<br />
region, Puglia and the<br />
Greek<br />
cities of the Aegean Sea have taken upon themselves the<br />
renovation of the vestiges located all over the Mediterranean basin in<br />
order to reshow the observers, tourists etc., the complex imposing<br />
architecture of the Venetian castles.<br />
57
- Financial district (15 office buildings, 6 branches of<br />
international banks).<br />
-<br />
- Reconstruction of the street network, the circle main street<br />
of<br />
the city (with two lanes).<br />
- Electricity distribution following modern standards.<br />
- Private airport (for small to medium size aeroplanes).<br />
- Private airport for big size aeroplanes (Koplik - Postopoje).<br />
-<br />
Four 5 stars hotels.<br />
- Four 4 stars hotels.<br />
- Shopping moll (60 duty-<strong>free</strong> retail stores, restaurants,<br />
cinemas).<br />
- Private hospital.<br />
- Residential area on the Tepe hills: 180 private villas.<br />
- Residential Towers (condominiums) .<br />
Investments in the Adriatic coast<br />
We are talking about the impressive beach of Velipoja that is situated<br />
15 km of straight line far from <strong>Shkodra</strong>. The white, clear and not<br />
exploited sand, the obvious width of the beach, the 15 km length and<br />
its bordering with natural and cultivated forests (as mentioned above)<br />
has drawn the attention of some companies<br />
of the European and<br />
Asian of tourism industry.<br />
58
- Three 5 stars hotels.<br />
- Six 4 stars hotels.<br />
- International<br />
golf course.<br />
- Residential area: 50 private villas.<br />
- Private airport (for small size<br />
aeroplanes).<br />
- Two-lane straight roads connecting Shkoder and Velipoja.<br />
Investments<br />
in the mountainous region<br />
- The reconstruction of Shkoder-Razem, Shkoder-Theth and<br />
Hot-Vermosh roads according the highest standards.<br />
- The opening of a mountainous tunnel in Kelmendi (11 km) to<br />
shorten the Hot-Vermosh<br />
road about 35 km and make<br />
possible the all-year-round transition (this road in winter gets<br />
blocked). The opening<br />
of the mountainous tunnel of<br />
Kelmendi will contribute also to the reduction of 100 km in<br />
the communication network among the Albanian communes<br />
and the cities<br />
of the neighbouring Republic of Montenegro.<br />
- The construction of mountainous railways leading to<br />
Kelmendi and Dukagjin.<br />
- The construction of roads leading to the centre of “Bjeshkët e<br />
Namuna”, Lepush, estimated as the centres holding the<br />
rarest<br />
beauties of the Northern Alps. (According to the British<br />
traveller, E. Durham, the Alps of the Northern<br />
Albania are the<br />
most attractive of the region).<br />
- The establishment in the Alps of centres for all kinds of<br />
winter and summer sports. The projects foreseeing the<br />
construction of the necessary structures and complexes to<br />
practice these sports safely and easily have already been<br />
archived. Five of the projects are foreseen in the mountainous<br />
region of Kelmendi (the most important in Vermosh acid<br />
Lepush), one in Theth of Dukagjin and two in Razma. We are<br />
talking about sliding<br />
tracks, diving-boards, mountain<br />
climbing, delta-planes, summer beaches in the Cemi and<br />
59
Shala banks, canoeing (in these same rivers), exploring caves<br />
(more than 50), touristic<br />
hunting, walking through the Alps.<br />
- The construction of<br />
five touristic villages inside the Alps to<br />
meet with the flux of the tourists<br />
all around the seasons. Five<br />
3 stars hotels, 20 villas, a hospital offering<br />
emergency<br />
services, 5 platforms for helicopter landing and internal<br />
cable-car transportation.<br />
- Investments in telecommunication, electricity supplying<br />
(from the above mentioned HPSs over<br />
Shala River) and<br />
central heating.<br />
- Converting the Kelmendi region into a developed agro-tourist<br />
centre.<br />
(Base d on factors such as the climate gifts, agricultural productivity,<br />
fruit-culture, stock-breeding, traditions of hygiene, inherited habits<br />
of<br />
hospitality<br />
and predisposition to help and serve the visitors and<br />
travellers, this region will achieve a strong economic development).<br />
Investments<br />
around the watery area of Shkoder<br />
Various investment requests, archived since 1994, along the bank<br />
of<br />
our half of the lake (36km) and the<br />
44 km of Buna banks:<br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<br />
100 private villas<br />
eighteen 3 stars hotels,<br />
construction of tourist, industrial and artisan centres, souvenir<br />
shops,<br />
- construction of golf fields, hippodromes, fishing and bird<br />
hunting resorts,<br />
underwater sports, sailing, windsurfing,<br />
ferry and cruise travelling from Velipoja to Buna and the<br />
Lake.<br />
walking along the banks of twisting river beds, meaning<br />
60
wonderful<br />
panorama viewing; snow- mountain canoeing, rocky<br />
slop es , waterfalls, various forests, alpine flower fields, offering the<br />
tourists the possibility to paint and take pictures, to catch fish and in<br />
some places<br />
to exercise the tourist hunting.<br />
All the projects offered to step in or organise the internal<br />
navigation, to bring under control the water movements (with<br />
specific guides and forced crossings), as well as, the projects aiming<br />
to achieve the completion<br />
of <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s watery area with all the<br />
necessary elements to establish a modern tourism industry (all basic<br />
infrastructures: roads, bridges, lights, waste and water discharging,<br />
public transportation etc.) have been analysed and the conclusion is<br />
that none of them goes against the policy of protecting the natural<br />
environment of the lake and Buna river.<br />
- A yard for constructing fluvial and sea navigable units.<br />
- A highway joining <strong>Shkodra</strong> port with no. 5 and<br />
no. 10<br />
corridors.<br />
- An electric train connecting the port city of <strong>Shkodra</strong> and<br />
Podgorica.<br />
Exploitation of mineral resources<br />
Cooper: Different companies are waiting for the green light<br />
to invest in cooper excavation in <strong>Shkodra</strong> - Puke region where it is<br />
well known to exist 65% of the geological and industrial cooper<br />
reserves<br />
of Albania.<br />
We are talking about projects offering a very<br />
advanced<br />
technology for the exploitation of volcanogenic cooper (found in<br />
Puka), volcanogenic-sedimentary cooper (found in <strong>Shkodra</strong> and<br />
Puk e) . It is insisted to start exploiting the reserves discovered in Palaj<br />
- Karme (<strong>Shkodra</strong>), where 5-7% of all the Albanian cooper is found,<br />
61
half of which is rich in more than 2% cooper having the advantage<br />
of<br />
being sent for the melting process without the need of being<br />
enriched.<br />
The foreign investors are interested in<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> region<br />
because<br />
70% of the gold and silver combined with cooper and polymetals<br />
of all Albania, is found here.<br />
Exploitation of non-metal minerals<br />
Companies from some European and Asian countries ask<br />
invest in:<br />
The calcareous sources (Postribë)<br />
There are 36.7 billiard tons of such reserves that can be used<br />
for cement production and can be found close<br />
to clay and silicon<br />
deposit in Drisht (used for clinker production). The source is in<br />
optimal exploitation conditions, few meters ' away from Kiri river<br />
bed , 5 km away from the city and 2.5 km away from the railway.<br />
The industrial tests prove that, besides the cement, over 500<br />
brands of white cement (mixed with kaolin) and dehydrated<br />
limestone<br />
can be produced.<br />
The<br />
dolomite sources in Rasek<br />
Some companies of Eastern Europe have requested to start<br />
the exploitation of 4 million tons existing in Rasek. The intention is<br />
to produce bricks, dolomite panels and blocks to satisfy the needs of<br />
the refractory industry<br />
(castiron furnaces and cement kilns), to<br />
produce<br />
the mineral cotton (for hydro-isolations and as raw material<br />
for the textile industry) used as additional material for glass<br />
production.<br />
The Albitofire sources in Guri i Zi<br />
There are I million tons' of these reserves that serve the<br />
to<br />
62
industrial production of coloured glass, telephone isolators and, used<br />
with the calcareous kaolins, that of white cement, grey slabs and<br />
tubes, and antiacid betons, etc.<br />
A consortium from Southeast Asia is willing to realise its<br />
project for the exploitation of the reserves.<br />
Kaolin<br />
Sources<br />
In Dedaj-Vig-Korth Pule exist 75% of the total found<br />
reserves in Albania.<br />
A European company is much interested to start their full<br />
exploitation. It is known that these materials<br />
serve the preparation of<br />
the porcelain dough, the extraction of the aluminium hydroxide and,<br />
from their enrichment, they create filling concentrates for the paper,<br />
rubber and leather industry.<br />
Clay sources<br />
Italian, Dalmatian and Slovakian companies have presented<br />
projects to enable the exploitation of the delta clay basin Bushat<br />
Zefjanë. Their factories will produce bricks, tiles, tubes but also the<br />
paste<br />
of porcelain plates and hydro-sanitary equipment.<br />
Fluoride<br />
sources<br />
As a mineral of a rare and scarce grouping in the world<br />
market, the exploitation of fluorides is based on criteria that differ<br />
from those of the minerals in general.<br />
Fluoride reserves reach the 50 000 tons.<br />
During<br />
1990, in Brazhdë and Shosh of Dukagjin, 100 000<br />
tons of fluorides were discovered, an amount which justifies<br />
investments in this area.<br />
A Japanese consortium has presented the request<br />
for the<br />
exclusive exploitation of fluorides in Dukagjin, and such an<br />
63
investment will be followed by the deserved development of this<br />
<strong>zone</strong> with railways and cable-car transportation.<br />
The Japanese have carefully<br />
considered their investment<br />
because there are over 70 areas of use of fluorides and according to<br />
the geo-chemistry data comes out that in their<br />
mineral field, the<br />
presence<br />
of poly-metals and rare valuable minerals is certain.<br />
Decorative-stone<br />
sources<br />
In Mes, Rrapshstare and in the city of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, over the<br />
Tepe<br />
hills (close to Rozafa Castle), thousands of marbled calcareous<br />
stones with pleasant decorative features are found.<br />
Some Italian companies are highly interested to invest a lot in<br />
the source <strong>zone</strong>s, while two Austrian companies and a Turkish one<br />
want to realise middle and small investments, exploiting firstly the<br />
Tepe reserves that possess a deeper marbling feature making them<br />
very<br />
pleasant (1 million tons).<br />
Industries<br />
Within the climate of a market economy and a real opening<br />
(conditioned by the construction of the infrastructure) the city-port<br />
of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, located on the separating border between Albania and the<br />
Republic of Montenegro, possesses all the geographical possibilities<br />
and<br />
advantages to became, as Mehdi Frasheri foresaw it, a first hand<br />
commercial transportation<br />
centre with a developed industry. In the<br />
conditions<br />
of trade liberalisation and economic globalisation, a<br />
special attention should be paid to the construction of those<br />
industries that can survive and get hurt as little as possible from the<br />
market competition. The escape of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
region from the<br />
backwardness can not happen without the construction of a diverse<br />
light industry.<br />
64
Therefore, <strong>Shkodra</strong> will be able to satisfy the city demands<br />
not only, as a developed touristic centre but, as we<br />
mentioned above,<br />
also as a <strong>zone</strong> of commercial transit for other countries.<br />
In reality foreign investors from USA, Australia, France,<br />
Thailand, following the above mentioned visions, have presented<br />
their projects for the exploitation, as raw material, of the production<br />
of<br />
the enormous area of fertile land of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region within which<br />
it is witnessed the successful<br />
cultivation of 5000 hectares of wheat,<br />
4000 hectares<br />
of maize, 3500 hectares of tobacco, 1000 hectares of<br />
vineyards, 2000 hectares of vegetable glass-houses, 1200 hectares<br />
of<br />
rice, 300 - 400 hectares of onions. There are 54 410 hectares of<br />
forests growing healthily (300 hectares of chestnut trees alone) and<br />
there is a high potential of livestock-raising, bee-keeping, silk-worm<br />
raising, fish-farming, olive and sunflower growing, etc.<br />
- chocolate factories,<br />
- 8 milk processing factories (4 of average capacity and 4 of<br />
small<br />
capacity)<br />
- 4 alcoholic drink factories,<br />
- 2 water distilling factories,<br />
- 2 canneries (for fruits and vegetables),<br />
- 4 tobacco factories,<br />
- 2 sauce factories (average capacity),<br />
- 1 maize processing combine,<br />
- 1 leather processing factory,<br />
- I classic-shoe factory,<br />
- 1 sports-shoe factory,<br />
- 1 factory to process the complex products of the proteinic<br />
“mine” of <strong>Shkodra</strong>’s lake (the largest one in the Balkans).<br />
- 1 small<br />
capacity combine to process the aged timbers of our<br />
forests.<br />
65
HOW CAN WE OBTAIN THE INVESTMENTS WE DON'T<br />
HAVE?<br />
The program for the economic development of <strong>Shkodra</strong><br />
should be based upon two basic investment sources:<br />
- Domestic savings<br />
- Letting in foreign savings through loans or aids.<br />
Since the domestic resources do not meet the conditions for the<br />
capital accumulation, then the attention of the economic<br />
programmers should not be primarily focused on a policy that<br />
encourages high savings. This is because the level of savings<br />
depends also on the operating efficiency of the savings institutions<br />
which in turn depend on the banking system. It is obvious<br />
that our<br />
banking<br />
institutions do not only offer suitable depository services but<br />
also they are not able to generate their usual profits. The weak<br />
foundations of the present day market economy and the fragile<br />
political stability continue<br />
to obstruct the accomplishment of the<br />
fisc al, monetary reforms and the integration<br />
with the western<br />
banking system. The Albanian bank s, no<br />
matter how they are<br />
denominated, do not enjoy the deserved independence<br />
and still<br />
cannot be released from government<br />
policies- the state budget.<br />
Taking in consideration the quasi-global unemployment<br />
rate and<br />
the lo w industrial production level, it is<br />
clear that we cannot even<br />
app ly the economic method of "obligated<br />
savings" which, in itself, is<br />
a very powerful way to restrict consumption and increase savings.<br />
This mechanism puts "aside" part<br />
of the output, thus increasing the<br />
capital accumulation. It was the same mechanism that collected huge<br />
savings in China, which explains the origin of the "dramatically "<br />
successful results of the Chinese economy over the past 20 years.<br />
If the market<br />
economy started to operate on sound economic<br />
66
grounds, an equivalent policy could be applied in our country<br />
through the<br />
budget. The economic planners should never forget<br />
that only when the government is capable to collect more taxes<br />
than it spends to purchase the material goods and deliver<br />
services, it is able to precisely plan the investments of the<br />
remaining resources in infrastructure,<br />
state- run enterprises or<br />
channel them to various companies through the development<br />
banks.<br />
Since it is clear to all that right now in Albania, foreign savings<br />
represent the sole condition for the capital accumulation, then<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> region should pay special attention to three ways of<br />
attracting foreign savings:<br />
- Obtaining the necessary direct investments from foreign<br />
companies investing for this purpose (for instance, Australian<br />
companies construct the infrastructure in Vietnam, whereas<br />
Japanese companies build factories in Indonesia).<br />
- Borrowing from the world capital market, via banking<br />
institutions such as World Bank, IMF, the European Bank<br />
of<br />
Investments (in recent years, one billion US$ have been<br />
allocated to Albania, but not a single cent reached Shkoder),<br />
etc.<br />
- Obtaining foreign aid from the industrialised countries (this<br />
would impose on Shkoder local government and the citizens a<br />
co-ordination of work for creating the necessary conditions<br />
for stability and fostering the idea that the aid will not "vanish<br />
into the air").<br />
Certainly, the use of the foreign savings on Shkoder area (with<br />
very<br />
low levels of per capita income) is very important, since the<br />
67
insufficient income level does not allow us to set aside any surpluses<br />
for accumulation.<br />
The economic planers should fully understand that the<br />
people are already well- informed about the fact that the<br />
government has planned the economic development without<br />
declaring the amount of domestic and foreign savings, be they<br />
private or public, which in reality, determine the amount of the<br />
investments<br />
to be made in Albania, or in Shkoder, in particular.<br />
How efficient an investment in Shkoder can be depends on<br />
the judgement or the decision of the government. So far, the<br />
government has taken no steps<br />
towards the regionalism, the<br />
decentralisation<br />
and the autonomy of the local government.<br />
The em phasised needs for the above mentioned investments (US$<br />
4.4 billion)<br />
and the incapability of the government to attain them, the<br />
distancing<br />
of the foreign investors and the daily deepening of the<br />
econom ic woe urge us to look around and learn something from the<br />
other countries<br />
experience.<br />
After the unification of Germany, in order to integrate the 16<br />
million population of the East, the Federal State allocated them each<br />
year, an amount of US$ 100 billion. By declaring this sum, allocated<br />
annually to the most well maintained ex-republic of the Eastern<br />
Camp,<br />
it is clear that for a population of 3.4 million in Albania, the<br />
most back<br />
warded ex-republic of this camp and actually the poorest<br />
in Euro pe, the needed annual capital should be of more than US$ 21<br />
billion.<br />
Considering the<br />
above comparison it is clear that this year's<br />
Albanian<br />
State budget of US$ I billion is insufficient.<br />
In c ase the Albanian annual budget would have been inspired by the<br />
financial sums that the unified Germany allocated to the 16 million<br />
eastern population for the integration, based only on the number<br />
68
of the inhabitants of <strong>Shkodra</strong> (224 557 people) the government<br />
should have allocated<br />
to us US$ 1.4 billion, while according to this<br />
year's<br />
real budget the government should have allocated to us at least<br />
US$ 64 million.<br />
Strangely enough, in the annual budget approved in the<br />
capital city for the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, not only were the numerical<br />
population data not taken to consideration but also the deep<br />
backwardness of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region was ignored. We say so because the<br />
planned expenses for this year are declared to be much lower, US$<br />
5.7 million<br />
“The consequences of the historical fate, the spontaneous<br />
development during this century and especially the downfall of<br />
the<br />
highly centralised, socialist economy during the last 50 years should<br />
encourage the state leaders to attract, at high rhythm, the investments<br />
we actually need, aiming first at reducing the unemployment.<br />
According to the analysts and observers of the European<br />
financial institutions: the incompetence in managing the financial<br />
expenses, budget deficit, high fiscal evasion, corruption as a<br />
dominating phenomena, inflation,<br />
the growing effect of VAT,<br />
devaluation<br />
of Lek against foreign currencies, unfair competition<br />
(fiscal policies in favour of exports, imports and trade for a `small<br />
group of people'), are the fundamental factors that obstruct the<br />
economic advancement, generate poverty and deepen the socialeconomic<br />
crisis, especially in the region of <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
Without the proper education, without industry, under the<br />
heavy weight of the spontaneous urbanisation paradoxically starting<br />
on the eve<br />
of 21st century, the citizens of <strong>Shkodra</strong> are surviving. By<br />
forgetting<br />
whose sons they are and abiding by the motto "all<br />
shopkeepers", the young and the old have occupied the city<br />
sidewalks simply to sell other people's goods.<br />
In these conditions the Government should accept the<br />
69
implementation of economic policy of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s which resolves<br />
the unemployment problem (guarantees the socioeconomic<br />
equilibrium), neutralises the anomalies and corruption, creates the<br />
conditions to establish<br />
business ethics, solves contradictions resulting<br />
from incomplete legal structures because it attracts all the necessary<br />
financial capital to invest in (brain) education, industry and to<br />
successfully complete the urbanisation of <strong>Shkodra</strong> port-city.<br />
In order to modestly contribute to the creation of a common<br />
doctrine relating to this status, we will briefly explain what the<br />
meaning of a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> is:<br />
THE “FREE ZONE”<br />
There are many years that the discussion, on declaring <strong>free</strong><br />
<strong>zone</strong>s around Albania, is on the agenda. In 1991, the professional<br />
press of the economists, in accordance with the knowledge they<br />
presented, made public the idea of decreeing the whole Albania as<br />
a<br />
<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>.<br />
Having assimilated the archived data of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> of<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong> offered from the Turks in 1502 and those of 19931997<br />
period, we were given the chance to have many direct contacts with<br />
some foreign countries and "<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>" areas in Eastern Asia.<br />
Impressed by the quick and strong economic development under<br />
this<br />
status we felt obliged to prepare the following materials.<br />
A <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> can be a country or a clearly defined area within<br />
the geographical borders of a country where all the goods, except<br />
those prohibited by law, can be brought in (to be kept safe and stored<br />
at the existing conditions or undergo a manufacturing or industrial<br />
production) and produced without paying any custom, excise,<br />
sale or<br />
service duties.<br />
The <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s, in case the law that applies to them exists (in<br />
Albania, law 8072, dated 15.02.1996), enjoy a relatively strong<br />
70
authority in the economic and judicial aspect to promote the<br />
attraction of new investments, enhance trade exchanges, provide<br />
export opportunities and activate the multiplying financial<br />
components of the Off Shore capitals (borrowed or obtained straight<br />
from the foreign market). The economic policy of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> has<br />
been accepted as successful from the experience of all the developed<br />
countries. Therefore, the accomplishment of our desired aims is<br />
totally dependent on the efficient implementation of the mechanics of<br />
this economic strategy. Free <strong>zone</strong>s in these countries are approved<br />
by<br />
the Ministry of Finance. The<br />
Government specifies the area, sends<br />
the<br />
proposal to the minister who, after approving it, publishes the<br />
decision in the legal newspapers,<br />
etc.<br />
The aim of <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s creation is closely related with the<br />
interest of transforming back warded regions (of various widths) into<br />
developed centres of tourism, trade, industry, exports and finance.<br />
Giving the "<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>" status to the city of <strong>Shkodra</strong> shortly means<br />
<strong>free</strong> circulation<br />
of money and goods without any form of<br />
govern ment, direct taxation (duty-<strong>free</strong> and tax-<strong>free</strong>) and access to the<br />
area for the foreigners will be given without the need of visas. As<br />
a<br />
<strong>free</strong> trade and industrial <strong>zone</strong> all the goods produced in this area are<br />
designed for export. Such <strong>zone</strong>s treated as "extra territories" and<br />
attract huge foreign investments.<br />
The advantages of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong><br />
- Delay of repayment and removal of tariffs.<br />
In this framework, we mean the imported goods stored within<br />
the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, before they are delivered to their destination and<br />
the removal of tariffs for the goods which will be exported later.<br />
This has encouraged<br />
the businessmen to build warehouses and<br />
huge store-units to store goods within these <strong>zone</strong>s. Although the<br />
retail<br />
is prohibited in a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, the businessmen<br />
71
are interested since they can take advantage of the delay in paying<br />
the tariffs while the goods are stored in the <strong>zone</strong>.<br />
- Lower tariffs<br />
Bringing separate parts of various articles to the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, the<br />
producers or assemblers of the inverted tax goods (higher tariffs are<br />
levied on separate parts than on the whole item they are part of) are<br />
charged with lower tariffs as a result of the final cost that will result<br />
lower.<br />
- Avoiding restrictions of quotas<br />
Import quotas in the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> are usually not applicable to the<br />
goods s tored within the <strong>zone</strong>. For instance, in Singapore, when an<br />
importer has shipped in more goods than permitted, he has all the<br />
facilities to store his merchandise in the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> and is not obliged<br />
to follow the permissible norms of merchandising as in the case of<br />
normal trade regions (where there are no <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s). He is<br />
also<br />
allowed to use the extra quantity of goods (above the quota) to<br />
produce products that are below the permitted quotas or he can wait<br />
until the next term for the new quota. In Malaysia, another approach<br />
is applied, where quota products are transformed into quota-<strong>free</strong><br />
ones. For instance, if a certain product<br />
is above the quota, the excess<br />
can<br />
be stored in a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> where there are no laws on quotas.<br />
Automatically, no excess will be as above the quota.<br />
- Labelling the product in the country where it<br />
is produced<br />
The imported parts, which will be imported in the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> and<br />
participate<br />
in the structural architecture of a product or machinery,<br />
etc.,<br />
will lose their original value assuming the label of the <strong>zone</strong><br />
72
where they are imported. Essentially, every completed product is<br />
identified as of all the products of that country. For<br />
example, in<br />
Singapore, computer producers<br />
bring into <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s parts imported<br />
from USA and Japan, and after the computers are produced, they<br />
retain the label “Made in Singapore”.<br />
Types of <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s:<br />
• Commercial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong><br />
• Industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s<br />
The activities allowed in commercial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s are: the<br />
movement<br />
of goods from a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> to a similar one (in their<br />
original or different packaging); storing, wholesale, advertising,<br />
distribution, packaging, fragmenting, repackaging, assembling,<br />
cleansing, manipulation, production, labelling, etc.<br />
The goal of the above- mentioned activities is trade promotion.<br />
- Regarding the industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s, all the production<br />
activities, making a variety of articles or products destined for<br />
exports, are allowed. In the industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> are allowed to enter<br />
goods that are to be used for the production of other goods. Here are<br />
allowed to exercise their activities only producers with export<br />
orientation and enterprises aiming to increase the productive sector.<br />
The aim of the creation of industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s is<br />
the promotion<br />
of<br />
the productive sector development. For this reason there are even<br />
four categories of users that exercise their activities in the industrial<br />
<strong>free</strong><br />
<strong>zone</strong>s.<br />
- The operator:<br />
Enterprise established to operate exclusively within the<br />
73
geographical borders of an industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> aiming the running<br />
the activities to encourage, manage and administer the <strong>zone</strong>.<br />
- The developer:<br />
It is the corporation or a branch of any foreign company,<br />
which<br />
is dedicated to the construction and development of the<br />
service infrastructure, within the geographical borders of one or more<br />
industrial<br />
<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s.<br />
- Industrial manufacturing user,<br />
It is a corporation or a branch of any foreign company set to<br />
operate exclusively within the geographical borders of an industrial<br />
<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, to manufacture, assemble and transform industrial<br />
products to be sold overseas.<br />
- Industrial services user.<br />
It is a corporation or a branch of a foreign company set<br />
to<br />
operate exclusively within the geographical borders of an industrial<br />
<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> offering services primarily to foreign markets.<br />
The users of the industrial manufacturing and industrial<br />
services should sign a contract with the operator stating the terms<br />
and<br />
conditions of their agreement.<br />
The status of a <strong>free</strong> industrial <strong>zone</strong> benefits both foreign and<br />
local companies not only in terms of the savings relating to licences,<br />
payment delays, non-payment of tariffs, avoidance of the quota<br />
limits, but also in terms of lower production cost of the industrial<br />
products.<br />
A country that has <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s has a competitive advantage<br />
over other countries that produce the same products at higher costs.<br />
For the planners of an economy with a fixed orientation<br />
such<br />
as the case of our country, the removal of custom duties would be, at<br />
first sight, absurd. Looking at the experience of one of the newly<br />
of<br />
74
industrialised Southeast Asian countries, we follow with a<br />
commentary explanation.<br />
In one of the islands, occupying an area 1/3 that of the actual<br />
Albania, the central government<br />
decided to increase investments<br />
because it was a region with a back warded population and economy.<br />
After the establishment of the customs system by the state, the real<br />
value of the revenues from custom duties in the first year as<br />
prescribed by law added<br />
up to $ 200 million.<br />
In the following years, this amount decreased to $ 50 million,<br />
which related to the corruption “philosophy”<br />
in the customs. From<br />
the data collected, there was an estimated sum of $ 50 million stolen<br />
by customs officers, another sum of $ 50 million were “donated” to<br />
the high administration and another $ 50 million disappeared<br />
mysteriously.<br />
To<br />
avoid fiscal evasions, the government decided to increase<br />
the effectiveness and perfect the intelligent<br />
supervision. Nothing<br />
happen ed; on the contrary, the losses increased, since this time the<br />
government had to spend more to keep the new personnel. To rectify<br />
this uncontrollable situation, the government found it reasonable<br />
to<br />
announce the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> all over the country. The results were very<br />
positive. Besides the quick realisation of the economic development<br />
through an extraordinary attraction<br />
of foreign investments, the<br />
govern ment, although it collected no revenues from the customs, did<br />
manage to make higher profits through the 15-30% tax on the returns<br />
of numerous enterprises (of manufacturing productions), factories,<br />
plants. These profits were made only after the application of this<br />
economic strategy (that of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>). It is estimated that only<br />
from the<br />
revenues coming from the income tax on investments,<br />
which reduce the unemployment in a country by 10%, the state<br />
generates<br />
55-60% higher revenues than those coming from customs.<br />
We gave this simple explanation, relying on Singapore's<br />
75
experience. By supporting the “customs paradise” policy combined<br />
with the motivated adoption<br />
of VAT, Singapore managed to<br />
eliminate<br />
not only the nourishing ground of corruption, but also to<br />
give a fatal stroke to the corruption habitat of the customs.<br />
WHY WE DEMAND FOR SHKODER TO BE PROCLAIMED<br />
A FREE ZONE?<br />
• The attraction of the necessary investments is made possible.<br />
• The bureaucracy, the corruption (having its strongest roots at<br />
the customs), the incompetence of the state administration, the high<br />
and not stable income-tax policy, the outdated banking system and<br />
the lack of order<br />
have all kept the foreign investors away.<br />
The<br />
experience of <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>s in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia<br />
have proved that besides creating the conditions for attracting<br />
investments we need, they are extremely successful even when it<br />
comes to the transformation of the technology, professional<br />
management and, why not, the avoidance of contradictions with the<br />
incomplete local legislation.<br />
Under the status of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, isolated within the watery<br />
“canal” as an extraterritorial area, <strong>Shkodra</strong> in fact will follow the<br />
idea of, as stated by the proverb well known by now, “one country<br />
two systems”, which means to the foreign investors that the paradise<br />
for investments in Albania is the port city of <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
- The expansion of the Shkoder market<br />
Many economic observers think that the insufficient<br />
marketplace has been one factor for the limitation of the big<br />
76
investments. The proclamation of Shkoder as a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> with all the<br />
export conveniences implies the removal of the limitations although<br />
the area of the internal Shkoder market is relatively small. Under the<br />
status of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, investors are <strong>free</strong> to produce for the domestic<br />
market,<br />
the Albanian customs <strong>zone</strong> and the neighbouring and<br />
regional<br />
countries. Transportation can be easily arranged due to the<br />
favourable geographic position of the City and its access to the sea.<br />
Contrary to the pessimism<br />
of the economic analysts of Tirana, the<br />
phenomena<br />
of the satiation of the “small” market of <strong>Shkodra</strong> after<br />
the inflow of investments brought by the "<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>", is normal and<br />
not considered by the foreign investors as a restraining factor.<br />
On the contrary they are interested to increase as much as possible<br />
their activity in the commercial and industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> of our city in<br />
order to supply, according to the plan, their markets in general<br />
(here<br />
and there in the world) and also the target markets of consumers<br />
interested or waiting the ordered products “Made in <strong>Shkodra</strong>”.<br />
As we said at the beginning, this policy, to the tradesmen of <strong>Shkodra</strong>,<br />
was known since the first half of the 19 arly<br />
th century. They regul<br />
supplied with their goods the common market known at that time as<br />
the axis of Vienna, Trieste, <strong>Shkodra</strong>, Thessaloniki and Istanbul.<br />
- The abatement of the social-economic crisis<br />
At a time when unemployment is the biggest wound of our<br />
society, the problems caused by the retarded and spontaneous<br />
phenomenon<br />
of the rushed urbanisation should be dealt with before<br />
they gain the full features of the social-economic<br />
crisis. The poverty<br />
of<br />
the unemployed “nurtures” the social conflict that will be certainly<br />
associated with serious acts of crime, thefts, smuggling, Mafia,<br />
etc.<br />
(based on the experience of American crisis of the 30's).<br />
77
Government officials should not forget that our people of<br />
today can't take up entrepreneurial initiatives and the political culture<br />
of the compromises, in order to change the thorns of misery into<br />
fruits of democracy. The overall development of Shkoder as a <strong>free</strong><br />
<strong>zone</strong> would really contribute to the reduction of the complex<br />
problems caused by the spontaneous urbanisation with<br />
unemployment as its destabilising, fundamental factor which, under<br />
the status of a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, can be resolved.<br />
- Under the status of a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, Shkoder will become a very<br />
important export centre.<br />
Based upon the experience of the most distinguished <strong>free</strong><br />
<strong>zone</strong>s in the world in terms of the flux of trade exchanges in East<br />
Asia and West Pacific, we can convincingly indicate that Shkoder,<br />
as<br />
a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> can serve even as an communicating bridge between the<br />
national economy and the foreign markets. The circulation of goods<br />
at convenient times, the reduction of the production costs, avoidance<br />
of the red-tape bureaucracy of the customs and the use of the<br />
transportation companies and agencies that will be trained to find<br />
suitable<br />
markets, are all factors supporting the exports growth giving<br />
to our city the authority of the most developed centre<br />
for exports in<br />
Albania.<br />
- The integration into the capital market<br />
The physiology of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> mechanism is reinforced by<br />
the activities of the Off- Shore banks which provide facilities to<br />
operate local market capitals, without losing, moving or risking them<br />
by protecting the interests of the Shkoder businessmen.<br />
78
- The customs<br />
paradise of a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> prioritises the regional<br />
integration and augments both state and local revenues<br />
Under the status of a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, Shkoder and its region will<br />
develop the trade, increase the production activity and strengthen<br />
the<br />
economy contributing to keeping up with the living standards<br />
of the<br />
neighbouring countries, especially those that have begun to receive<br />
the fruits of this economic strategy. The <strong>free</strong><br />
<strong>zone</strong> status will grant<br />
the<br />
city the proper economic prestige to embark on the regional<br />
integration and assimilate, as much as possible, the tangible effects<br />
of the economic globalisation.<br />
The forecasted economic prosperity of<br />
Shkoder,<br />
as a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> encourages the ties with the Republic of<br />
Montenegro, which over the past 5 years, has progressed due to the<br />
initiative and understating of our two close countries. (It is the time<br />
that we revitalise the border agreements entered into in the 30's and<br />
institutionalise all the necessary ties to fill the elements of the<br />
integration, each time stronger, with this neighbour country).<br />
The <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> advantage from the creation of new jobs, by<br />
engaging the workforce and the intellectual potential, raises income<br />
levels. By employing 60% of the unemployed, the national revenues,<br />
provided by Shkoder City, would rise $ 5,7 million annually. Both<br />
the central and the local budget will also benefit from the taxes: on<br />
personal income<br />
of both nationals and foreign residents, rentals,<br />
supply<br />
of domestic materials and goods, delivery of various services;<br />
the transportation tax.<br />
- Solution<br />
to the employment issue in and outside the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong><br />
Various commercial activities (inside and outside the <strong>free</strong><br />
<strong>zone</strong>) and productive processes that go along with the<br />
79
advent of the “<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>” require the engagement of a certain number<br />
of employees. Out of the total number (20.000) registered<br />
unemployed<br />
in <strong>Shkodra</strong> during 1997, it is estimated that the<br />
employment<br />
of 11.000 (due to the opportunities provided by the<br />
“<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>”), would spare to the central government an annual<br />
amount of 508 million Lek from the fund of economic aid and social<br />
assistance. A financial value four times bigger than the amount of the<br />
total revenues collected from the <strong>Shkodra</strong> customs during 1997 (this<br />
argument proves again that under the status of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> the state<br />
does not have lose anything from the removal of customs taxes)<br />
It is worth mentioning that besides of solving the<br />
unemployment problem right inside the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, the extension of<br />
market out of it, into the Albanian customs <strong>zone</strong>, will necessarily be<br />
accompanied by the growth of purchasing power which generates the<br />
investing process even outside the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, which means indirect<br />
new jobs outside <strong>Shkodra</strong>.<br />
THE FREE<br />
ZONE OF SHKODRA NEEDS NO<br />
PREPARATORY EXPENSES<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, as a border inland port-city in between the Republic<br />
of Albania and Republic of Montenegro, has all the favours to be<br />
declared a commercial and industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>.<br />
Having no need to spend on building artificial borders,<br />
demanded by the regulators<br />
(enclosures using walls, wire or<br />
electronic<br />
fences), the city of <strong>Shkodra</strong>, in a natural way, is<br />
surrounded in all sides from the deep water “canal” of the three<br />
rivers<br />
(Buna, Drini and Kiri) and of the lake. This reminds us of the<br />
bordering<br />
of the "<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>" state of Singapore, etc. Under such<br />
geographical conditions, the entrance in and exit from the<br />
city will<br />
necessarily be done, as it is done today, through the crossing bridges<br />
80
of Buna, Drini and Kiri and, as soon as the port - city of <strong>Shkodra</strong> will<br />
be declared a <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>, the entrance and exit gates together<br />
with the<br />
customs edifices will be located in front of bridges (the same way<br />
they were located during the Albanian Kingdom period).<br />
Besides avoiding expenses on surrounding “fences”, the<br />
problem of building an infrastructure, communicating with European<br />
markets and beyond, will be also solved without the need to spend<br />
any financial capital.<br />
The water transportation across the Lake (13 meters deep),<br />
between <strong>Shkodra</strong>-<strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> and the neighbour Republic of<br />
Montenegro, can start immediately. Considering the fact that<br />
the lake<br />
ports in Montenegro are connected with land and railway routes,<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>'s products have all the possibilities to be delivered within a<br />
short time to all the European, and other markets.<br />
Some well-known Montenegrin companies have already<br />
offered to provide not only these services, but also passengers’<br />
transportation.<br />
We are talking about putting into use ships, ferries,<br />
tow-boats and other special units for these kinds of transportation.<br />
During the 1992-1998 periods,<br />
the city inhabitants have not<br />
used<br />
so much the primitive centripetal Albanian routes. They<br />
managed<br />
to survive mainly due to the intensification of the land and<br />
water (across the Lake) centrifugal traffic towards Montenegro.<br />
Thanks to the in-between borders trade, in the last<br />
years, it was<br />
gradually<br />
achieved the defacto realisation of some integration<br />
components, officially started only during the reigning of King<br />
Zog I<br />
and interrupted in 1948 after the full closure of the communist<br />
Albania.<br />
Waiting for the construction of the infrastructure we actually<br />
lack, it would also be a mistake to refuse the offers for the<br />
hydroplane transportation on the lake made by some German<br />
companies, which consider the <strong>Shkodra</strong> lake as an<br />
81
enormous water runway (368 km 2 out of which 168 km 2 belong to<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>) and suitable to be used all year round (since the Taraboshi<br />
mountain protects it form winds).<br />
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MUST BE SUPERVISED<br />
Special attention should be paid to the investments-GDP ratio<br />
(the total investments over the GDP). Official analysers of these<br />
indicat ors should be know by how much this ration should rise for a<br />
1 % rise in the economic growth (for example, if up to now our city<br />
reached a 4% economic growth, the economists should be able to<br />
determine by how much should the investments-GDP ratio change in<br />
order to have a 5% economic growth or 1% more than the previous<br />
rate).<br />
As a group, the Asian countries have followed development<br />
policies seen until lately as successful. In these countries the<br />
investments-GDP ratio has been 5% (US$5 billion investments over<br />
US$1 billion GDP). In order for the GDP growth to rise by 1%, the<br />
government<br />
in these countries had to increase the investments-GDP<br />
ratio by 5%. In the Latin American countries in order to reach the<br />
same rate of GDP growth, the investments-GDP ratio had to reach a<br />
10:1 ratio. This can be explained by the inefficiency of the economic<br />
policies followed by these countries and the distribution and<br />
allocation of resources. Unlike the Asian countries, the Latin<br />
American countries were obliged to spend much more in order to<br />
reach the same result, a 1% rise in GDP growth.<br />
The<br />
planners of the strategic process for the economic<br />
development<br />
of <strong>Shkodra</strong> should keep their authority even after the<br />
implementation of the forecasted and new coming projects.<br />
The primary objective of the daily relations with the<br />
82
most active businessmen of the <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong> is to find the most suitable<br />
and satisfying strategic policies for the economic development, based<br />
on the real efficiency of investments<br />
relating to the distribution and<br />
allocation<br />
of resources.<br />
What can we learn from the Asian Newly Industrialised<br />
Economies?<br />
On my diplomatic mission in Southeast Asia (1993-997) I<br />
came into close contacts with the economic reality of this region and<br />
learned that the most developed part of Asia is located in the<br />
Southeast region. This region with an astonishing record of sustained<br />
growth, within less than two decades, has improved the living<br />
standards<br />
of more people, more rapidly, than at any other time or<br />
place in history.<br />
Southeast Asian economies are built on strong basic<br />
fundamentals, which are still in place even now that this region is<br />
trying to find the way out of its financial turmoil. These economies<br />
have been built following the Japanese model of high savings and<br />
cheap money directed to strategic industries, which helped Japan to<br />
catch up with the West very quickly. The economists points of view<br />
on these fundamentals differ but most of them agree with the view<br />
that, unlike the other Asian countries such as India, etc., the<br />
Southeast Asian economic development has been due to `openness'<br />
and outward orientation, and greater reliance placed on market<br />
forces. The hard work, management and worker efficiency,<br />
adoption<br />
of the world best-practice, promotion of research and development<br />
(R&D), entrepreneurship, high savings, productive investments, low<br />
taxation, flexible labour markets, family values, sound government<br />
policies, macroeconomic stability, active trade, and export<br />
policies<br />
helped the region to grow at 7 - 8% a year for more than a decade.<br />
Southeast Asia experienced an export-led economic growth.<br />
83
With a cheap and large labour force and high marginal<br />
productivity of product (low capital to labour - K/L - ratio), these<br />
economies exported their labour intensive products to Western<br />
mature economies making, in this way, huge profits due to the large<br />
disparities<br />
between unit costs and foreign prices of the products.<br />
These economies managed to improve their products quality<br />
standards by adopting<br />
and imitating rather than inventing new<br />
technological<br />
advances. More exports meant more profits, therefore,<br />
more income,<br />
which in turn led to higher savings and investments.<br />
Exporting into mature economies of the West provided the much<br />
needed hard currency for investing in capital accumulation,<br />
education, training, R&D.<br />
The knowledge I gained during my diplomatic mission in this<br />
region made me conclude<br />
that the port-city of <strong>Shkodra</strong> should aim at<br />
its fast economic development nearly detached from the general<br />
development plan of Albania (from which <strong>Shkodra</strong> benefits very<br />
little). Declaring my city a `commercial and industrial <strong>free</strong> <strong>zone</strong>' will<br />
create all the possibilities to attract investments, that employ the<br />
richness of the resources of <strong>Shkodra</strong> region, if we follow accurately<br />
the economic strategy that allowed the Southeast Asia region to<br />
experience such a high growth record and leave the rest of Asia far<br />
behind.<br />
84
BIBLIOGRAPHY<br />
• Durham, E. “20 Vjet Lufte Ballkanike”, 1920.<br />
• Ipen, Th. “Udhëtime në Shgipëri 1897-1903”.<br />
• Mema, Sh. “Albania of Albanians in the Books of English<br />
Travellers”, 1988<br />
• Muller, J. “Albanien, Rumelien und die Asterreichisch -<br />
Montenegrinische Granze”, Prague, 1844.<br />
• Brzezinski, K. “Out of control”, 1993.<br />
• Naçi, S. “Shqiperia e Veriut ne shekullin e 18 (letra te zv.<br />
Konsujve Venedikas td Shkodrës)”, Tirane, 1967, vëllimi 2.<br />
• <strong>Shkodra</strong>, Z. “Dokumenta<br />
mbi Shgiperinë, shekulli i 18”,<br />
Tirana, 1975, vellimi 1.<br />
• Le Ree, A. “Raport i Konsullatës së Frances ne Shkoder”,<br />
AMAEF, 1892, dokumenti 25.<br />
• Zojzi, Rr. “Tregu i Shkodrës”, Buletini i Shkencave<br />
Shogërore, nr.1, 1954.<br />
• Colah, N. “Raporti maritimi fra Albania e i porti adriatici nel<br />
settecento”, 1993.<br />
• Juka, S. “<strong>Shkodra</strong> në veprat e Mary Edith Durhamit”, 1993.<br />
• Tirana, XH. “In land port of <strong>Shkodra</strong> in prehistorically<br />
maps”, 1928.<br />
• “The<br />
Turkish Free Zones Legislation and Regulation”, The<br />
Prime Ministry Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, December 1996.<br />
• “Business Times”, Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 5, 1996.<br />
• Fischer, S., 1997, “Asia and the IMF, [Http://www.imf.org].<br />
• Chanda, N., Feb. 1998, “Rebuilding Asia”, Far Eastern<br />
Economic Review.<br />
• Western, D., Mar. 1998, “Where to go from Crisis”, Far<br />
Eastern Economic Review.<br />
• Western, D., “Southeast Asian Growth Miracle”.<br />
• Baldeci, A. “Studi speciali Albanesi”, Roma, 1939, Volume<br />
15.<br />
85
• Dokumenta nga<br />
Arkivi i Vienës, Rel. 20.1.1859, filmi A744.<br />
• International Trade, Arizona - U.S.A, 1996.<br />
• “Straits Shipper.” Malaysia, 1996.<br />
• Nurja, F. “HEC e Rajonit Shkodër”, Rel. 1998.<br />
• Haward. U. W. “Christian Work”, New York 1918.<br />
• ARNI, “Proposto<br />
di utilizzio del fiume Buna e del lago di<br />
Scuta ri per la navigazione interna in collegamento al corridorio<br />
Adriatico-Regione Emilia Romagna”, 1996.<br />
• Fishta, Gj. “Shqyptarët e të Drejtat e Tyre“,<br />
1932.<br />
• Frashëri, M. “Probleme Shqiptare”, 1940.<br />
• Qulli, M. “Dy banka mashtruese”, Gazeta Populli, Nr.48,<br />
1920.<br />
• “Kërkesa e shumave<br />
që ushtritë Austro-Hungareze kanë<br />
marrë,<br />
dhe e shpërblimit të dëmeve që ato kanë shkaktuar në<br />
Shgipëri.” Dorëzuar (me 5 Qershor<br />
1919) kryetarit të Konferencës së<br />
Pag es, G. Clemenceau, nga kryetari i dërgatës, Shqiptare, z. Turhan.<br />
• “Arkivi i Familjes<br />
Lluja.” Dokumenti nr. 48, 6 Maj 1915.<br />
• Skiner, B. “Hvatil li cellovjecestvu zjemnyh resursov?”,<br />
Moskva, 1989.<br />
• <strong>Shkodra</strong>, Z. “Qytete shqiptare gjatë Rilindjes.” Tiranë, 1984.<br />
• Hoxha, A. “Kompleksi ujor i Shkodrës”, Rel. 1998<br />
• Maltezi,<br />
L. “Qytetet e bregdetit Shqiptar gjatë sundimit<br />
venedikas.”<br />
Tiranë, 1988.<br />
• Kalamishi, E. “Një vështrim mbi flotën tregtare ulqinako-,<br />
shkodrane.” Rel. 1998.<br />
• Feraj, H. “Pavarësia është e shenjtë.” 1997.<br />
• Duka, V. “Mineralet jo-metalore, si t’i shfrytëzojmë me<br />
efektivitet ato”, Tirane,<br />
1991.<br />
• Dani, K. “Pak fjalë mbi pyjet e trevave të Shkodrës.” Rel.<br />
1998.<br />
• Naçi, z. “Si ta fillojmë turizmin në Alpet e Veriut. ” Rel.<br />
1998.<br />
• Osja, A. “Një vështrim prodhimtarisë bujqësore në rajonin e<br />
Shkodrës”,<br />
Rel. 1998.<br />
86
Hoti, R. Ferid<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, Free Zone: Studies/Ferid R. Hoti,<br />
Translated by: A. Karini,<br />
Rev. A. Rroji, Shkoder: “Camaj-Pipa“, 1999.<br />
86 pages, 32 photos, 9x16.5 cm<br />
1. Studies over Albania (<strong>Shkodra</strong>)<br />
308.496.5 (1.21): 338.48<br />
Ferid R. Hoti, H 5<br />
<strong>Shkodra</strong>, zonë e lirë: studim.<br />
Formati: 61x86/16<br />
Botuar: shkurt, 1999.<br />
Shtëpia Botuese “Camaj-Pipa", Kiras, Kodra nr.43,<br />
Tel. 00355 224 38 22, Shkodër-Albania.<br />
Shtypur: Shtypshkronja "VOLAJ", Rruga: Filip Shiroka, 27<br />
Tel. 00355 224 44 80, Shkodër-Albania<br />
87