Shortcut to central and southern Albania would involve a tunnel under the mountain range dividing the two cities. It is part of a trend of large public works projects recently announced by the government.
TIRANA, Feb. 10 – Work on a new highway between Tirana and Elbasan will start this year. And the new road will involve a long tunnel underneath the mountain range separating the two cities, Albania’s government said this week.
Visiting Elbasan on Monday, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said the draft project for the Tirana-Elbasan highway has been completed, and work can now start.
“I want to let you know that the construction on this highway will start this year,” Mr. Berisha said. “This project, through the tunnel, not only significantly reduces the distance between Elbasan and Tirana, but also significantly shortens the distance between Tirana and Korca, Berat and Tepelena.”
Currently, the Tirana-Elbasan highway is snake-like road over the Krraba mountain pass, which many drivers avoid in favor of the longer, but easier route through Durres and the Shkumbin Valley.
Elbasan is inland from the coastal plains, where Albania’s population is concentrated, but the broad Shkumbin Valley makes it relatively accessible. There is, however, no easy geographic way to connect it with Tirana due to a mountainous barrier.
The new highway would also shorten the link between Tirana and the Pan-European Corridor Eight, which goes through Elbasan and the Shkumbin Valley.
The announcement follows a trend of such large public projects on the part of the government.
“The Tirana-Elbasan highway, after the Arber Road, will be one of the largest major government projects during the next four year,” Prime Minister Berisha said. “We are determined for the Albania of 2013 to be a very different place, where Albanians can travel to other parts of the country in a shorter time.”
The week before this announcement and after a deal with foreign investors to build a fourth large hydro-electric power plant on the Drin River fell through, the Albanian government said it will build the plant itself.
If the 500-million-euro Skavica Hydro Power Plant is actually built, it would rival only the Durres-Kukes highway as a public works project implemented in Albania after the fall of Communism.
