|
Albania
TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
In the early 1990s,
the rock-strewn roadways, unstable rail lines, and obsolete telephone
network crisscrossing Albania represented the remnants of the
marked improvements that were made after World War II. Enver Hoxha's
xenophobia and lust for control had kept Albania isolated, however,
as the communications revolution transformed the wider world into
a global village. Even internal travel amounted to something of
a luxury for many Albanians during communism's ascendancy. For
years, peasants needed special passes to visit nearby districts,
and until 1990 the government banned private ownership of automobiles.
Urban mass transit consisted primarily of bus lines for ferrying
workers between home and work. Breakdowns in Tiranė's bus lines
sometimes forced employees to walk to work or pay for rides in
the beds of passing trucks. The communications system sustained
severe damage in the chaos of the economic collapse as people
ripped down telephone lines to use as fencing. Despite generally
deteriorating conditions, the importation of fleets of used cars
and buses and popular hunger for contact with the outside world
raised hopes that matters would improve.
Data as of April 1992
|
