Road rehabilitation linking with Montenegro

TIRANA, Sept. 1 – The Ministry of Transport said that next year there would start a 21.85 million euro ($27.9 million) rehabilitation of a key road linking the country with neighboring Montenegro. Forty-three kilometers of the existing road linking Shkodra with Hani i Hotit in the north will be rehabilitated in line with the EU standards, the ministry said in a statement. The funding of 21.7 million euro comes from Italy with a soft loan and 150,000 euro are grant. Albania is to repay the interest-free loan in 39 years with a grace period of 19 years.
Albania plans to invest up to 800 million euro of domestic and foreign funds in building new roads by 2009. The country’s road network covers 18,000 kilometers, of which 3,636 kilometers are national roads. Hardly 3,500 kilometers are asphalted, including only 12.4 percent of national roads.