BD lends 40 million dollars for local roads

TIRANA, July 1 – Albania has secured a 40 million dollar loan from the Islamic Development Bank to build 170 kilometers of rural and secondary roads in northeastern Albania, the Finance Ministry has announced.
Last month, government secured a 50 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank to finance the secondary roads project.
The project is part of an ongoing programme of rehabilitation of 1,500 km of secondary and local roads all over the country which includes design, construction and supervision in Albania. The main goals are to improve the transport conditions in the rural areas, provide facility in access to marketplaces and administrative, educational and health services. The project is also aimed at increasing the opportunities of economic, agricultural and tourist development for the beneficiary population via the provision of asphalted roads.
The total cost of this project is around EUR 140 million, co-financed with the European Commission and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The projects falls under the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), which will provide grant financing to support technical assistance and investments. The rehabilitation of secondary roads programme is managed by the Albanian Development Fund.