POGRADEC, Aug. 21 – The German government has provided a grant of 6.5 million euros to improve the infrastructure in the eastern town of Pogradec at Ohrid Lake.
The funding will help improve the town’s drinking water supply and rebuild an urban canal network, according to a statement.
The German funding is part of an overall 21 million Euro spending at the tourist resort of Lake Ohrid in Pogradec, 140 kilometers east of the capital, Tirana.
The project titled “Environmental protection of Ohrid Lake” will apply the first stage through the grant given by the KfW.
The project, which is scheduled to end in June next year, will completely rehabilitate the canal network and clean the polluted waters, thus significantly improving the quality of the lake.
The work is to be done by the German company STRABAG AG. It has subcontracted with two Albanian companies, ALB STAR for laying the tubes and construction work, and ALFA ENGINEERING for installing the mechanical equipment.
The supervising company will be the German company Dahlem Consulting Engineers / DIWI Consult International.
Germany has also signed an agreement with the Albanian government for the second part of the project, again with a grant of 5 million euros. The Albanian executive will also contribute with half a million euros.
It is planned to hold the procurement ceremony early next year and work will start in 2008.
Germany has been one of the main donors to post-communist Albania, contributing about 350 million euros to the Balkan country’s development.
The project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi together with local authorities and the new German ambassador to Tirana, Bernd Borchardt and the KfW representative, Christof Gross.
