Where did the Buna Bridge PROJECT get stuck?

For more than two years, Albania and Montenegro have planned to jointly build a bridge over the Buna River, which will connect Ulcinj - the southernmost municipality of Montenegro and the resort of Velipoja in Albania. 

The work was supposed to be completed in August of this year, but Faktoje's verifications show that the deadlines have been violated.

The project of the bridge over Buna, worth 20 million euros, will start implementation at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year.

Two years ago, during a meeting of the Open Balkans initiative in Ohrid, Albanian Prime Minister  Edi Rama  introduced Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic with the 3D project of the bridge over the Buna River, an idea previously put forward by Abazovic that envisages connecting Velipojan with Ulcin.

The project was concretized in a Bilateral Agreement between Albania and Montenegro, on February 27, 2023 in Podgorica. In the second joint meeting between the two governments, Edi Rama and Dritan Abazovic signed the Joint Declaration and the Bilateral Agreement for the construction of the bridge on the Buna River worth 20 million euros.

The project-idea on the bridge that will connect Velipoja with Ulcinj was prepared by the Albanian Development Fund. The bridge's technical design, budget preparation, construction permits had to be completed by February 2023, to pave the way for field work. August of this year was planned as the deadline for the completion of the work.

Time showed that the promised deadline for the completion of the work was violated. From the verifications of Faktoje, it appears that for the work that was planned to be inaugurated this month, the field work has not yet started.

The Albanian Development Fund says that work on the project is expected to begin at the end of this year, or at the beginning of 2025.

The extension of  the implementation period for this project is expected to  be  24 months .? ?  As a result , the works are expected to be  completed at the end  of  2026 or the  beginning of  2027. ' says ADF, without giving reasons for the deadline violation.

In parallel with the construction of the bridge, the Albanian Development Fund announces that the common border crossing point will be opened, which will make it possible for citizens to access this investment.

The construction of the bridge over Buna and the connection of two large tourist centers will be extremely important for the development of tourism in Albania, the Chairman of the Tourism Association, Zak Topuzi, told Faktoje.

"It is a great help for Albanian tourism, even for those who want to go to Montenegro. And not just simply for Albanian tourism, because it will be a good connecting bridge for Kosovar Albanian tourists who come from the diaspora and do tourism in Albania."  - he says, adding that the construction of this work should start as soon as possible, for this reason:

"With the release of visas for Kosovo, we are taking a risk as a very interesting path has been opened for them to go to Greece. Therefore, the construction of this bridge that creates ease and shortens the distance helps us at a moment like this, so it should be done as soon as possible. It should not just remain a project,"  argues the President of the Tourism Association.

"Bridge over Bun", is a project ready for implementation by the Albanian Development Fund, which will be co-financed by the two governments, shortening the distance between Velipoja and Ulcinj from 73 km to 300 m.

According to the project, the bridge over the Buna river will connect the village of Pulaj in Velipojë and Cveti Nikoli? in Montenegro, in the territory of the Municipality of Ulcinj.

The designed bridge is a composite of steel beams and reinforced concrete slab, about 300 meters long with a width of 17 linear meters, with two sidewalks and bicycle lanes on both sides of the bridge, two lanes for cars with a width of about 5.25 meters each .

The average height of the bridge in relation to the highest water level will be about 10 meters in order not to interfere with river circulation.

The whole project will cost 20 million euros and the construction will last about two years./ Faktoje