Albania Opens Part of Highway Link to Kosovo
BalkanTravellers.com
The 60-kilometre stretch of the highway, which reportedly cost 1 billion euro to be constructed, was completed by the U.S.-Turkish consortium Bechtel-Enka. When the entire stretch of highway is completed, it will link the Albanian port of Durres with Prishtina, and shorten the trip between the two countries’ capitals from eight to three hours.
The project was hailed by Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha as one that would end the “partition of the Albanian nation” and a “road of development for the entire Balkans,” according to international media reports.
In addition, it is hoped that the highway will increase trade between Albania and Kosovo and bring up a higher number of Kosovo Albanian tourists to the Albanian coast, according to Albania’s Tourism Minister Arjan Turku.
The road’s inauguration took place just three days before Albania’s general elections on Sunday, for which Berisha;s Democratic Party is in close competition with the opposition Socialist Party lead by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama. During the campaign, the Socialists accused the government of various irregularities connected to the road construction, such as the tender process and the significant increase in the works’ cost from 500 million euro to 1 billion euro.
According to media reports, various other parts of the highway are expected to be completed by the end of 2009 or the beginning of next year.
Read more about Albania and Kosovo on BalkanTravellers.com
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