Porto Palermo Tunnel
is a submarine tunnel built in the Porto Palermo bay by the communist regime of
dictator Enver Hoxha in the late 1960’s and in the beginning of 1970’s. The tunnel
is situated in the northern end of the bay. Its primary function was to be a
home base for a fast attach craft. Unlike submarines these crafts are short
range coastal vessels that stay hidden during the day near to where they have
to operate during the night.
When the tunnel was
built it took a a very large percentage of Albanian total GDP. Communist China
supported the construction of the tunnel financially and provided materials as
well. Every worker involved in the construction of the tunnel was strictly
filtered by background and the site was supervised by the military. However the
tunnel’s project has a problem. It has two gates, one north and one on the south
of the tunnel which is also the entrance visible from the Porto Palermo Bay.
The northern gate, had a huge problem with the force of the waves, due to the
high speed of the winds in the area, which made the northern gate useless. The
tunnel is no longer used for military purposes, but it remains in a restricted military
zone.