Second tunnel opened

TIRANA, Oct. 24 – A ceremony was held at the Thirre tunnel to inaugurate the opening of the second tunnel and the completion of the work.
The opening of the northern tunnel signs the official end of the biggest project in the Albanian infrastructure.
Last week Friday Albanian ministers and a Kosovo one met passing through the second tunnel in this motorway starting from Tirana or Durres until the border checkpoint of Morina.
The 60 kilometer-long road segment, including the 5.6 kilometer long tunnel, was build from the US-Turkish joint venture Bechtel-ENKA Construction Company with a cost that was more than one billion euro.
The same group is continuing the same kind of project in Kosovo.
“The construction of this road was finished in the best possible way, within the defined deadline, with the right quality and it will help in avoiding traffic between Albania and Kosovo or between different parts of Albania,” said Albanian Minister of Transport Sokol Olldashi.
“The value of this project is bigger than its commercial effect; it increases the faith of Albania in its capacities, and it increases the contribution that Albania and Kosovo are giving to the region through this motorway,” said Albanian Interior Minister Lulzim Basha.
“The project would have never started in Kosovo if it had not ended in the Albanian part. We are starting work where the Albanian government left it, by concluding in this way a dream project of both Kosovo and Albania,” said Kosovo Minister of Transport Fatmir Limaj.
The road segment from Rreshen until the end of the Kalimash’s tunnel is the most difficult part of the road.
It is expected to boost economic ties between the two countries.
Albania’s north is the country’s most underdeveloped region, and it depends on Kosovo for trade. The new road may also send tourists from landlocked Kosovo to Albania’s coast, which they will be able reach about three hours instead of six.
For 50 years ethnic Albanians in Kosovo had little contact with their kin in Albania. Kosovo was part of the Yugoslav federation; Albania suffered under the brutal rule of communist dictator Enver Hoxha.