Weekend in Durrës

Durrës-Kukës-Prishtina-Merdare highway project will bring Kosovo closer to the sea. It is the first serious link connecting Albania and Kosovo allowing Kosovars access to the Albanian Adriatic in at most four hours. The road beyond Merdare will connect with Nis and Corridor 10 which goes into Romania. In Albania the new road will pass through new low-lying fields with tunnels crossing the mountains in the way. This will not only improve travel times from the current six hours through treacherous terrain but also allow year-round travel. Political campaign promises and euphoria have followed this project since at least 2001. However, in the last few months it looks like Albania got more serious on the project. Now a certain South Eastern Europe Transport Observatory (SEETO) will allocate €154 million to Kosovo, €120 million of which will be used towards the construction of the Kosovar portion of the highway. The total cost for the 111 km long Kosovo portion is expected to cost €644 million, money which will be solicited from investors in return for road concessions. Albania will have to spend as much as €440 million on a 117 km long lower quality version. The toal portion for the Albanian part is 170 km, some of which already exists.

International Crisis group recommended internationl community should help Albania constuct this road for the sake of Kosovo's economy back in 2001. Now it is time to put this into action.