FLASH NEWS
5 permits to erode Shkumbini/ How the river was destroyed with the government's blessing
2026-02-24 21:09:23 / EKONOMI&SOCIALE
One of the suspected causes for the collapse of the Librazhd-Pogradec road is the erosion of the Shkumbin River to obtain aggregates for the construction of the new Elbasan-Qafë Thanë segment. Report TV revealed that there are currently 5 active permits for gravel extraction in the Shkumbin basin.
The Elbasan-Qafë-Thane segment, costing almost 212 million euros, appears to be costing much more than that, as traffic has been blocked for days due to the destruction of the Librazhd-Pogradec road.
Officially, institutions say that the massive landslides occurred as a natural event, but the construction of the new road was accompanied by a series of permits granted to construction companies that took over the new road, part of Corridor 8, to use the Shkumbini basin for inert materials.
Report TV investigated the permits issued for the use of inert materials in the Shkumbini Basin. Four companies that have also won several lots for this road project have 5 permits to dredge the river and take inert materials.
According to the data, the total area allowed to be eroded is 1,565,141 square meters, and the total amount of inert materials to be taken from the riverbed is 3,531,728 cubic meters.
The ANK company, which won lot 4 of the Elbasan-Qafë Thanë road expansion (20 million euros), which is also closer to the place where the massive collapse occurred, received the license to take inert materials in Shkumbin on December 19, 2024 and has the right to use the permit until December 19, 2027. The permit states that the use of the Shkumbin riverbed is for the implementation of the project "expansion of the Elbasan Qafë Thanë road." This company has a usable area of 490 thousand square meters of riverbed, and can take 71,561 cubic meters of inert materials until the end of the permit.
In July 2023, Alb-Building, which won the first lot of this road worth 21.8 million euros, also received a permit to dredge the Shkumbi River. The permit, which expires in 2027, specifies that this company has 610,710 square meters of space to extract up to 619,637 cubic meters of inert material per year, or 1,858,911 cubic meters throughout the entire permit.
In April 2024, '4 AM' also received a permit for inert materials for the implementation of the project "Widening the Elbasan Qafi Thane Road, (Phase II) worth 24.2 million euros. This permit also has a 3-year term and expires in 2027. The usable area is 175,824 square meters, and 316,483 cubic meters of inert per year or 949,449 cubic meters for the 3 years of the permit will be taken from it.
Yes, Alb-Building received another permit in July 2025, valid until 2028, to use 111,834 square meters in Shkumbi to obtain 226,807 cubic meters in total for the implementation of the "Construction of the Papër-Grykshit Bridge" road axis project (Phase III), which is part of the other project being carried out by ARRSH Elbasan-Lekaj.
Meanwhile, Salillari received the other license in June 2025, with a term until 2028, for the implementation of the project "Construction of the Elbasan-Papër road axis, (Phase I) with a cost of 20 million euros, also part of the Elbasan-Lekaj project. The usable area for this company is 169,773 square meters and the aggregates that will be taken in total are 425,000 cubic meters.
Gravel erosion has denatured the Shkumbini, which has now expanded its bed even further. But permits to obtain inert materials are not the only ones, as dozens of permits have also been obtained to use underground or surface water sources, and approvals have been given for construction on the edge of the Shkumbini Basin./ Shqiptarja.com
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