Second tunnel on Kukes highway to open in October

TIRANA, July 5 – The second tunnel, the parallel lanes for the one currently in use, in the newly-built Rreshen-Kalimash road that links Kosovo with the port city of Durres, will be completed in October, officials said.
The highway’s south-bound tunnel opened in May to traffic following an eight month closure for repair work.
The completion of the tunnel, which is the centerpiece of the estimated 1 billion euro highway project, is expected to be a wrap of works in what is considered to be Albania’s largest public project in decades.
The tunnel was inaugurated in early June 2009 with a celebration ceremony attended by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
The Rreshen-Kalimash road, although it was not yet completed, was also inaugurated in an electoral stunt on June 26 by Prime Minister Berisha and his Turkish counterpart, Receep Tayyip Erdogan.
The new road link makes travel much easier for the hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians who cross the border to spend their summer holidays in Albania each year.
Corruption allegations and cost overruns have led some critics to question the ultimate value of the highway’s construction.
The Rreshen-Kalimash section is only a part of the 170-kilometer route. The Albanian government is still to give an exact estimate of the total cost of the project.