The privatization of some services and terminals will be another important element for the improvement of the port’s performance.
TIRANA, May 2 – The port industry and infrastructure from the strategic viewpoint of the Corridor 8 were the key topics discussed this week in an international forum organized by Durres Port and the Albanian Konfindustria. Addressing the forum, Albanian Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi said the big investments which are being carried out in Durres Port especially in the passenger terminal, the expected modernization of squares, quays and the deepening of the port’s underwater basin will considerably improve the infrastructural network of the Durres Port, also used by Kosovo and Macedonia.
“The political approach of Corridor 8 has also strongly been supported by Italy which asked to get involved in the project even with the Naples Port apart from the Bari and Brindisi ports,” added Olldashi.
Kosovo Infrastructure Minister Fehmi Mujota emphasized the importance of the Road of Nation linking the two countries, announcing that by next October the first 34 kilometres of the highway from the Albanian border will be open to traffic.
Meanwhile, Eduard Ndreu, the director of the Durres Port Authority, said that the privatization of some services and terminals will be another important element for the improvement of the port’s performance.
The forum in Durres came after a three-day trade fair called “Industry and technology 2011” held in Tirana from April 28 to 30.
Last year, Albania, Italy, Macedonia and Bulgaria agreed to speed up the construction of Corridor 8, an east-west European road and rail network linking the four countries. In a conference held in Tirana, transport ministers from the four countries signed a memorandum of understanding committing to give a new impetus and accelerate the implementation of the infrastructural projects linking the Adriatic and Ionian regions to the Black Sea.
Corridor VIII links the Adriatic-Ionian regions with the Balkan regions and Black Sea countries. From an economic point of view, with the trans-European networks the European Commission aims at realizing an enhanced territorial access to EU countries, and thus develop an increased mobility of people/goods following the Single Market objectives and the principles of sustainable mobility, according to the Corridor VIII secretariat. From a transportation point of view, Corridor VIII is a multi-modal transport system along the East-West axis comprising of sea and river ports, airports, multi-modal ports, roads and railways, for a total extension of 1270 kilometres of railways and 960 kilometres of roads. Its main route follows the Bari – Brindisi – Durres – Tirana – Skopje – Burgas – Varna axis.
