EBRD plans to fund up to 18 million euro in Durres port

TIRANA, Oct. 11 – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Wednesday that it was considering funding between 14 million and 18 million euro to rehabilitate Albania’s largest port of Durres. “The proposed project will increase the capacity of the ferry passenger terminal and related infrastructure, and improve the quality of the services provided at this terminal at the Port of Durres,” said an EBRD statement. An environmental feasibility study is ongoing. There was not set any exact date when the money could be delivered or approved. The total cost of the project is estimated at 40 million euro. Based on the project there will be built a passenger ferry terminal, reconstructed other infrastructure, provided with safety elements for ferry boats, and there will also be rehabilitated two quays at the port and be built a new access road to the ferry terminal. Albania has also applied for funds to the European Investment Bank.
Albania is trying to make the Durres port as a key element in the trans-Balkan route, a link from the east to Western Europe along the Corridor 8 project, in accordance with European Union standards. In May Albania also got 10.1 million euro from the EIB to raise the port capacity up to 75,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers. Last year the port handled 15,000 TEU of containers and plans to raise the volume to 20,000 TEU containers this year. The port’s latest data showed that its cargo traffic in the eight months through August rose by 11 percent on the year to 2.16 million tons. Passenger numbers fell in the same period by a slight 0.89 percent to 490,569 people. Durres handles 80 percent of the passengers and goods flowing into the country.