BSTDB considers financing roads in Albania

TIRANA, July 7ؔhe Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is considering funding a motorway project in Albania, the bank’s Director, Bulgaria, said on Tuesday.
“BSTDB is considering entering a project with the Albanian government for the financing of a trans-border motorway that exceeds the planed annual government investments,” Sofia Kassidova told Bulgarian daily Dnevnik in an interview. Kassidova did not provide further details.
Albania’s top transport project is the construction of a highway linking the Adriatic port of Durres with the country’s border with Kosovo. The project became a point of controversy between the ruling Democrats and the opposition, which says it would increase Albania’s indebtedness. To finance the project the government signed many loan deals. According to local media, the entire road will cost Tirana over 1.2 billion euro, almost twice what the government had initially planned.
Albania also plans to build a motorway stretch linking the town of Elbasan in central Albania and the capital Tirana. It is part of European Union-defined transport Corridor 8. The motorway, including a tunnel, is estimated to cost 180 million euro. It will cut the driving time between the two towns to 20 minutes from one hour. The distance between Elbasan and Tirana is around 30 kilometers.
The government is also planning to build a highway running across the country from Montenegro in the north to Greece in the south.
BSTDB head of policy and strategy, Panos Gavrastold, stated earlier this year to local media that the bank is ready to invest up to 3 million euro per project in Albania. Usually BSTDB provides 35% of a projects financing. Since the beginning of the year BSTDB has lent Albania $61.5 million. Given the costs planned on current road projects, BSTDB might well surpass the current sum.