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The government provides 870 million euros to "replace" the port that was given to Alabar, while leaving key road axes in oblivion

2025-07-16 11:13:44Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The government provides 870 million euros to "replace" the port that
Belinda Balluku and Edi Rama

Travelers who frequently use the Milot-Lezhë-Shkodër segment, which is already notorious for traffic jams in the Lezhë area as well as slow traffic along the entire subsequent axis to Shkodër, will likely have to be patient for a long time because the Albanian government's medium-term budget program has not planned any improvements on this segment, while an attempt to concession the problematic Milot-Balldre segment failed due to a lack of bids.

This is the second time that the government’s efforts to find alternative financing for this road axis have failed, but this is far from being the only road axis for which the budget has no funding and private financing is uncertain. In fact, wherever you look at the road map of Albania, you can see that some improvements are necessary, while, in the government’s medium-term budget plan, there is no money allocated for them. Consequently, traffic in Lezha, at the entrance to Shkodra, in Elbasan, in Pogradec or even on the Tirana – Durrës highway itself in the segment from Vora to Durrës, will likely be an inseparable story for citizens for the fourth mandate of the current government, and perhaps beyond.

Medium-term budget

Albania's major infrastructure projects, because they take several years to build, are planned in a governance instrument known as the medium-term budget. In this instrument, the government adjusts the expected three-year needs to the budget's financial capabilities. In short, if the budget is, say, 100 lekë, the government determines which projects will be financed with this money. For other projects, the government has the option of seeking various aid programs, such as from the European Union, or seeking private financing through a public-private partnership scheme. The latest budget law approved by parliament last year can be found here [link], while the list of investments with three-year programs can be found in the excel document titled List of Public Investment Projects 2025-2027 [here]. The document contains two tables, one presenting planned investments with domestic resources and the other with foreign resources, including loans and donations.

Funded projects

The list of projects related to road infrastructure financed from domestic sources is presented in cells 140 to 166. In these cells it is noticeable that the vast majority of the money is expected to go to existing concession contracts as well as for the Elbasan – Qafë Thanë and Elbasan Lekaj highways. These two projects, divided into 14 phases, are expected to cost a total of 40 billion lekë or about 400 million euros and will add about 100 kilometers of highway to the country, with an average cost of over 4 million euros per kilometer, without the usual work additions. The works for this axis are planned to be completed in 2027.

The next big project is the expansion of the Tirana-Durres highway. The budget estimates that it will cost 12.5 billion lek or 125 million euros, but Albanians will have to wait until at least 2029, if the works are not postponed, to see it completed. The first and second phases have started, but are expected to be completed after 2027, while the third phase is expected to start in 2026 and the fourth and fifth phases, in 2027. The deadline for the completion of the works for these last three phases is 2029.

Another costly project is the Berat – Ballaban road, which is expected to cost 66 million euros according to the budget estimate and will also be completed after 2027. The improvement of the existing Kombinat – Ndroq – Plepa road will cost approximately 48 million euros and is expected to be completed in 2028 if there are no additions.

The Tirana Ring Road, which is currently open to traffic, will have additional works that will continue until after 2029.

The government currently has three concession contracts for roads, which cost taxpayers millions. The Arbri Road contract costs us about 36 million euros per year for a total of 400 million euros and we will continue to pay it until 2031. The Kombit Road contract costs us 7 million euros per year in the form of “subsidies” from the budget, in addition to tens of millions paid by users and according to the budget document, will continue to cost us until 2032 for a total of almost 100 million euros. The third contract is that of the road segment from the Yacht Port in Orikum to the tunnel to Palasa, which will receive approximately 9.5 million euros per year until 2034.

As for foreign-funded projects, the Tirana Bypass project, which will connect the northern highway with the Elbasan highway, is expected to cost approximately 240 million euros and is financed by the European Union.

Another project, the Qukës - Qafë Plloçë road, is expected to cost 260 million euros according to the current estimate, has already spent 190 million euros and funding is planned to extend beyond 2027.

Unfunded roads

In the list of projects for foreign financing, the Elbasan Bypass project is noted at a cost of 22 billion lekë, but for this project the financier is “unspecified”, which means that it has not yet been found. Theoretically, the project should have started its implementation in 2024 and should have been completed in 2028. But for the moment nothing has happened. The lack of a highway that should avoid traffic in the city of Elbasan will likely dramatically reduce the efficiency of use of the entire Lekaj - Qafë Thanë highway because, after users describe the first 30 kilometers at a speed of, say, 100 kilometers per hour, they will get stuck in Elbasan traffic.

The other major unfunded project is the highway that should connect the Tirana bypass with the village of Lekaj, i.e. with Corridor Eight and the superhighway to the south. The highway will have to be built from the Beshirit Bridge in Tirana through the Peza Valley to reach the village of Lekaj in Kavajë after overcoming a hilly terrain. Known as the Central Corridor, this should be the highway that will avoid the notorious traffic on the Durrës Ring Road and will also remove some of the traffic on the Tirana-Durrës superhighway. This is a project that is supposed to cost hundreds of millions of euros and is unfunded by either domestic or foreign sources. The government has repeatedly floated the idea of granting a concession and making this highway a toll road, for which plans have not been able to move forward.

Shkodra, whose connecting road with Tirana was built in the 2000s without a spare lane and which is currently always congested with traffic and high risk of accidents, will likely remain with the same road for an indefinite period. There is no planned project for financing this road segment that connects the capital with the largest city in the north and further to Montenegro. Nor is there a project to build a 'bypass' for Shkodra to bypass the Bahçalëk junction.

The government's plan was to award a concession for the Milot - Balldre segment, which was supposed to avoid traffic in Lezha. Initially, the government awarded the concession to a local company, which had no capital and could not find financing, while now, a tender opened before the elections was declared unsuccessful after the elections.

Theoretically, the Qukës – Qafë Pllocë road should serve as an alternative to the current Qafë Thanë – Qafë Pllocë road, which passes through the city of Pogradec. Plans for a highway to connect Qafë Thanë to Korça and then to the Greek border remain unfunded.

Money for the port

A significant portion of the state budget's investment capacity over the coming years has been earmarked by the government to go towards the construction of a new port, after it gave the existing Durrës port for the construction of palaces. The government initially claimed that the new port, which would have to be built before the existing one was given to Alabar, would be built at private expense. This work went nowhere, so the government turned to budget sources. Currently, the government's project is to build a new port with an undetermined final cost, but for the first phase, 49 billion lek or 490 million euros have been set aside. The cost of the other phases will have to be gradually revealed over the coming years. This is the plan for the cargo port. There is also a second plan.

In order to free up the Port of Durres for the construction of palaces, Albania needs to build a new military port. NATO seems to not allow the current port to be occupied without being replaced with a suitable port to guarantee the country's security. For this reason, the government's second project, designated to be paid for with domestic resources, consists of the construction of a new military seaport in Porto Romano, with a current estimated cost of 38 billion lek or 380 million euros. So far, without taking into account possible additional costs, the government plans to spend 870 million euros to free up the Port of Durres for palaces. This is a figure that would have been enough to build many of the necessary road segments that are currently not financed, such as the Elbasan bypass at a cost of 220 million euros or a new road to Shkodra./ reporter.al


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