Drivers using the Durres-Kukes highway are expected pay a maximum of 5 euros after the concessionaire is selected making it Albania’s first toll road
TIRANA, Jan. 28 – Four years after its completion, the Albanian government is planning to organize an international tender early next summer to choose a concessionaire for the Durres-Kukes highway linking Albania to Kosovo due to rising maintenance costs and failure to intervene to make it safer.
“We are preparing a model on the concession of this road. Such huge investment by the Albanian government needs to be perfectly maintained so that it does not degrade and that we get a return on investment. By the end of next spring and the beginning of summer, we will hold a tender on this concession,” said Albanian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Edmond Haxhinasto in a meeting in Tirana this week with his Kosovo counterpart Fehmi Mujota.
The visit of the Kosovo Infrastructure Minister to Tirana comes soon after Albania and Kosovo held their first-ever joint government meeting in the neighboring Kosovo town of Prizren approving a series of deals on political and economic cooperation.
Four years after its opening to traffic the Albanian part of the Highway of Nation remains incomplete with lack of bridges and other necessary infrastructure has claimed the lives of dozens of local inhabitants.
Albania and Kosovo also committed to conduct a feasibility study on the construction of a railway line linking the two countries and make the northern Shengjin Port available to Kosovo.
The concession of the Durres-Kukes highway has been postponed several times during the past couple of years.
In early 2012, five companies were prequalified to submit bids to upgrade, operate and maintain the Milot-Morine segment of the Durres-Kukes highway but the tender was postponed due to general elections of 2013.
Operational since June 2009, the Durres-Kukes highway and its 5.5 km twin-bore Thirre tunnel is estimated to cost government around 4 million euros annually in maintenance.
The concession covers a 118 km segment from Milot to Morine, the major part of the Durres-Kukes nicknamed the ‘Highway of Nation’ including the 5.5 km Rreshen-Kalimash tunnel.
The winning company is supposed to carry out investments worth between Euro 80-100 million.
Under the requirements drafted with IFC, the Milot-Morine Concessionaire will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Highway under a long-term concession. The winning bidder will also operate and maintain the Thirra tunnel, an open tolling system, collect toll revenues, and extend protection measures to prevent road closures due to materials falling on
the roadway. In addition to operation and maintenance requirements, the Concessionaire will also be obliged to undertake rehabilitation and expansion works such as the construction of the toll plaza for an open tolling system, installation of lighting at all interchanges and the construction of the Kalimash interchange.
“Road tolling offers the possibility of raising additional revenue for the road sector, and provides a dedicated source of finance for a particular road. Revenue from tolling is also independent from the annual budgetary process, and therefore increases the stability of road sector revenues, though toll revenues remain exposed to traffic risk,” says London-Based EBRD which is supporting the Albanian government in the reform of the road sector.
The Durres-Kukes highway, which cost Albania around USD 1 billion, became fully open to traffic only in October 2010. Its major 60 km Rreshen-Kalimash segment was built by Bechtel-Enka, a US-Turkish consortium.
The motorway is the central leg of a 106-mile (171-km) highway traversing the country from the Adriatic Sea to the northeastern village of Kalimash near Kosovo. The new roadway cut travel time between Albania and Kosovo from six to two hours, boosting coastal trade and northeast tourism.
Drivers using the Durres-Kukes highway are expected pay a maximum of 5 euros after the concessionaire is selected making it Albania’s first toll road
Kosovo has also completed its part of the Highway of Nation linking its capital Prishtina to the Morine border crossing point with Albania. The 102 km Morine-Prishtine highway started being built in April 2010 soon after Albania had completed its part of the highway. The highway was built by American-Turkish consortium Bechtel-Enka, which also built the Rreshen-Kalimash highway in Albania, the most difficult part of the highway including a double-bore 2.3 km tunnel.
