Austrian Alpin to build motorway

TIRANA, Feb. 16 – Transport Ministry ministry’s spokeswoman, Erla Mehilli, said on Thursday that the Austrian construction firm Alpin has started building a 50.3 million euro ($65.8 million) motorway in southern Albania. This segment is part of a north-south transport corridor that crosses the country. The transport corridor that links the northern part of Albania with neighboring Montenegro and the U.N. protectorate Kosovo, and the southern part with Greece. Alpin will build a 24.2 kilometers four-lane stretch between Levan, a village near the city of Fier, and the port town of Vlora. “Construction works were launched on Wednesday and are due to end in early 2009,” Mehilli added. Alpin won an international tender to build the motorway last October. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank and the Italian government, which has provided one million euro for the project’s supervision, are the main international donors of the project.