60-th Anniversary of the creation of ALBCOLD & Albania’s membership in ICOLD

In May 1964, 60 years ago, three men, three outstanding engineers under the guidance of Prof. Petrit Radovickes, took the road to the 8th Congress of ICOLD, which was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the clear aim of making Albania a worthy member of the world of large dams.

They were clear about the path they were walking on. They also had a large hydropower project, which was very important for the country’s economy. This team was going to become part of the largest organization of dams in the world, ICOLD. Still, on this trip they were also going to discuss with their colleagues the ideas they had for the construction of the largest project in Albania at that time and at this time, the Drin River Cascade.

They achieved the goals they had set for themselves. In that Congress, Albania became a member of ICOLD, a place it holds with honor even today.

At the same time, they continued to dream and realize their project through the technical and economic difficulties that have arisen over the years, and today we are all proud of the realization of their great work, the Cascade of the Drin River with 6 large dams, with three large reservoirs with a total volume of more than 3.5 billion m3 of water and with 5 HPPs with a capacity of more than 1400 MGW.

This cascade continues to be a source of pride for Albania and a unique hydropower complex in Europe for the integrated use of a river, the height of the built dams, the type of large dams, the volume of water in the Reservoir, and the economic importance of these works in economy of the country.

The successful story of the construction of large dams did not remain only with these dams. During these years, 350 large dams and more than 300 small dams have been built in Albania, making Albania a country with more dams per person and km2 in Europe.

Today, this success story in the design and construction of large dams in our country is at the same time a great challenge nowadays to maintain, monitor, and increase their safety and the urban areas below them. This challenge is being met successfully to this day.

In the framework of the 60th anniversary of Albania’s membership in ICOLD and based on the cooperation with similar committees in the field of dams, the National Committee of Large Dams of Albania (ALBCOLD) and the French Committee of Dams and Reservoirs (CFBR) successfully organized an International Symposium entitled “Challenges and Innovations for Safer Dams”. In this activity, it was discussed not only about the successful history of the design and construction of these dams but also about the challenges that lie ahead in terms of the modernization of dam monitoring, the updating of technical standards for the safety of dams, as well as the need for the reform of this sector. in the future.

In the symposium was presented the President of ICOLD, Mr. Michel Lino, President of the Academy of Sciences, prof. Skender Gjinushi, Vice Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers, Mrs. Belinda Balluku, President of CFBR, Mr. Denis Aelbrecht as well as representatives of ALBCOLD, CFBR, ICOLD, French Embassy in Tirana, MIE, MARD, Albanian Academy of Sciences, AMBU, Polytechnic University of Tirana, Students of Polis University and Metropolitan Universities, Dam Operators of the largest dams and engineers in the field of the design and implementation of large dams in Albania.

In the anniversary of the 60th anniversary of the creation of KKDM and cooperation with the Academy of Sciences, some of the personalities who have contributed to the design of large dams, such as Prof. Egon Gjadri and Prof. Enver Preza.

Also, during this month, ALBCOLD has organized visits to the large dams of HEC Vau I Dejes and HEC Banjes, as well as organized exhibitions of photos and movies with views of the main dams in Albania.