Thumane - Kashar, the fourth most expensive of the 59 toll highways in Europe

The Thumane - Kashar highway, which was opened to traffic this month, will be one of the four most expensive highways in Europe in terms of tolls, while compared to purchasing power, it is the most expensive in Europe.

"Monitor" has processed the charges per kilometer of about 59 toll roads across Europe with data obtained from the toll portal by country https://www.tolls.eu/european-countries. These data were verified with the official rates of each of the states.

In the comparison, only toll highways are included, some of which also have tunnels (excluding tolls for rare engineering works such as the English Channel, tunnels and bridges in Belgium and the Netherlands, etc., as they are not comparable to the Thuman road -Kashar).

The Thumanë - Kashar highway in Albania has a length of 21 kilometers, with a toll of 2.1 euros without VAT or 2.53 euros with VAT or 0.12 euros per kilometer. With this price per kilometer Thumane - Kashar is the fourth most expensive among the 59 toll highways in Europe. (see Chart below).

The "Cannock - Kingsbury" highway in Great Britain ranks first with 0.2 euros per kilometer. The axis is 35 kilometers long and costs 8.2 euros (7 pounds).

The second most expensive highway in Europe is "Navan North - Kells" in Ireland with 0.136 euros per kilometer. The axis is 11 kilometers and costs 1.5 euros.

The third most expensive axis is also in Ireland "Springhill - Slieverue" at 0.125 euros per kilometer. This highway is 16 kilometers long and costs 2 euros.

Data from tolls on toll roads are the highest in Britain, France and Italy, while the cheapest are in Turkey, in Eastern Europe generally in the Balkan Region.

Moreover, European countries that have high toll road prices have more than one cheap alternative for the movement of people.

For example, Western European countries have a very efficient rail network, and also other inland routes as alternatives. Toll roads in the EU and Europe ensure high speed and great time savings. While the Thumanë - Kashar highway, among the most expensive tolls, no solution was given even in terms of costs (fuel+traffic).

In Europe, 11 countries do not apply fees for vehicles moving on the road, while in Eastern European countries fees are applied in the form of daily, monthly and annual subscriptions.

Two days ago, large queues were formed on the new Thumanë-Kashar road, which began testing payments to pass on the 21 kilometers built through the concession. The payment was removed after the traffic generated.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy (MIE) clarified yesterday that the company has carried out, in different time segments, limited tests of the payment system, to validate the system and the processing ability of the staff.

The public will be notified in advance of the payment start date and time, the Ministry said.

The 21 km Thumane-Kashar axis is a type A highway with a speed of 130 km per hour. For its construction, the concession form was used with private financing for 35 years. The revenue for the entire concession period with all VAT is calculated at 1.6 billion euros.

The value of the investment is 271 million euros, according to official data from the Ministry of Infrastructure, This segment is part of the Adriatic-Ionian Corridor.

From 2024 to 2031, the private company's profit is guaranteed, as it is predicted that in the event of a decrease in the level of income, the state budget will subsidize the loss and 22.8 million have been made available from the state budget. euro guarantee.

Thumane-Kashar is the second axis in the country after the one of Rguga e Kombit, which is tolled. There will also be a fee to pass through the Llogora tunnel./MONITOR