Tirana-Elbasan highway to finish next spring

TIRANA, Sept. 19 – The Tirane-Elbasan highway will open to traffic by spring 2013, Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi said this week inspecting the construction works which are being carried out by Greece’s Aktor and Kuwait’s Copri Construction. Some 90 percent of the road track is under construction while most engineering works such as bridges, underpasses are underway, said Olldashi. The conclusion of works corresponds to the 2013 elections.
Last June, Greece’s Aktor officially concluded drilling work in the double-bore 2.3 km tunnel, part of a new highway linking Tirana to Elbasan. Works to open up the tunnel, the most difficult part of the highway, were completed 6 months before the deadline.
Kuwait’s Copri Construction and Greece’s Aktor have joined to complete the Tirana-Elbasan highway under a USD 170 mln deal. Overwhelmingly funded by Arab financial institutions such as the Islamic Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development, and the OPEC Fund for International Development, the road will considerably cut distance between capital Tirana and Elbasan, the third most populated region of Albania, and a hub to the southeastern Albania.
The highway, which is expected to cut the distance to Elbasan from the current 48 kilometres to only 31 kilometres, will have four lanes and two tunnels, 2.3 and 2.1 km long each–saving passengers to Elbasan 40 minutes in travel time. It is considered the biggest infrastructural project of the Democratic Party-led government second consecutive term, after the Durres-Kukes-Morine highway linking Albania to Kosovo, which was fully completed in October 2010. The Finance Ministry said the highway’s cost has dropped from an initial estimated USD 407 mln to USD 290 mln.