
The application of tolls on the Thumanë-Kashar segment will begin on January 4, 2025. In a press release, the concessionaire company G2Infra announced that this road, which is part of the Blue Corridor, will enter the toll regime as foreseen from its inception.
"This axis offers a safer, faster travel experience and constitutes one of the most important infrastructural arteries of Albania," the company's brief announcement continues.
The Thumanë-Kashar road opened to traffic on June 30, 2024 and is a 21-kilometer highway. This road was built by the private company holding the 35-year concession and at a cost of 271 million euros, as declared during the opening ceremony a few months ago.
The passage on this road is programmed with a fee, the value of which depends on the means but which starts from a floor of 2.1 euros excluding VAT and 2.52 euros including VAT. This fee will be calculated annually and will change depending on the fluctuations of the lek-euro exchange rate. The contract provides for rounding of the price when it is with a decimal point. On the other hand, as the local currency is lek, the payment in lek will be made based on an exchange rate that will be determined in the contract, close to the market rate.
The contract with Gener 2 and G2 Infra, which are the concession holders, estimates that over 35 years, the revenue plan will be around 1.3 billion lek excluding VAT.
Another element of the contract is the guarantee of basic income that will come from the operation of the road. The state undertakes to provide support in the first 8 years of operation if the basic plan is not achieved.
Thus, in the first year, the basic revenue plan for operation and maintenance is 26.85 million euros, while the state will guarantee 8 million euros. In the second year, which coincides with 2025, the basic revenue plan is 25.58 million euros and the state guarantee is reduced to 5.6 million euros.
In the third year of operation, the revenue plan is 25.10, while if this plan is not achieved, the state guarantee is for 3.92 million euros.
Year after year, the revenue plan changes, peaking at 63.15 million euros in 2055, while state support stops in 2031 when the estimated guarantee is 360 thousand euros. /monitor