Pristina Digging Itself Out of a Pot Hole

With 80 roads currently being worked at, at a cost of 15 million euro, and Pristina’s own version of Spaghetti Junction to open soon, motorists in Kosovo’s capital hope that they may soon be spared some of the gridlock and pothole dodging which has dominated driving in recent years.

But not everyone in the city is convinced that the cash is being well spent, as taxi drivers and opposition politicians have told Balkan Insight that they believe the new schemes will do little to alleviate traffic misery.

“The investments on infrastructure this year by the municipality go up to 15 million euro for a total of 37 projects”, Burbuqe Thaçi of Public Relations Office, told Balkan Insight. She said that key projects where work is currently ongoing include building and expanding of many key roads in central Pristina, and the suburbs.

“All of these roads have been, and continue to be, built based on European standards of roads. We also have several new projects to build and fix roads which are under tender procedures too,”Thaci said.

Bedri Sfarca, 52, who works as ataxi driver in the city, says that the traffic situation has improved with the new roads. “Even though the work sometimes has taken time, I am satisfied overall because now it looks better,” he said.

The most obvious road project in the city has been the major roundabout close to Pristina’s bus station, which has partly opened and eased traffic towards Mitrovica, and reduced jams in the city. But not everyone is convinced.

Another taxi driver, Sadik Avdyli ,42 said that traffic remains as bad as ever. “Nothing has eased, there have been many unnecessary pavements built that do not do anything to improve the traffic, and other roads have been narrowed.”

Shemsi Veseli, who is a key PDK member of the assembly, says that infrastructure projects in the city have been managed haphazardly.

“Inspection of roads is not done in a professional manner because often it is done by people who are chosen because they have family connection to the companies that have won the tender,” Veseli said. “For me the biggest obstacle is the lack of adequate internal control.”  

He added that the budget dedicated to infrastructure projects was no planned neither managed adequately, pre-announcing that the opposition will ask to review it on September 20 in a meeting of the assembly committee for policy and finance. “The mayor is clearly not committed and doing his work in a professional manner”.