Mayor presents Tirana tram streetcar line project

TIRANA, June 11 – Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha, also leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, presented this week the plan on the building of a 9-km tram streetcar line in Tirana.
Basha said that the tram link would be between its extreme points of Kombinat and Kinostudio, planning to transport some 90,000 passengers a day, a number that could be doubled in the future. He said that the project, prepared with the French 720,000 euro assistance and compiled from the international company Egis, will cost between 120 to 155.5 million euros.
Basha also called on Prime Minister Edi Rama of the Socialist-led coalition to leave aside political frictions and offer the support to this investment.
He said building a tram link in Tirana has been in the plans of both candidates running for the Tirana mayorship three years ago, when Basha took Rama’s seat as mayor.
Basha said that companies from many countries like France, Germany, Canada, Czech Republic, Turkey and China have expressed interest to build such a tram.
He also said that due to the policies of supporting the population the tram ticket has been planned to be 50 leks ($0.5), a figure that is affordable. The 9-km link will be done in 24 minutes, according to the project.
The plan is to build and operate the line by concession in a public-private partnership.