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Tirana-Durres requires 218 million euros, but ARRSH does not have a penny to finance it

2024-01-25 17:55:40Investigim SHKRUAR NGA ESMERALDA TOPI
Tirana Durres Street

The Albanian Road Authority, although there is no reason for the expansion of the Tirana-Durrës road, is trumpeting it as the most important infrastructure project of 2024. The expansion of the road is expected to cost 218 million euros, for which ARRSH claims that 20 million are provided in the budget. The verification of Faktoje shows that in fact the 2024 budget does not foresee any funding for the Tirana-Durres axis. This is a typical case of the expression 'fish in the sea and the pan in the fire'.

The government has returned to the plans for the expansion of the Tirana-Durrës road. The conversion of the segment into a four-lane highway will reportedly be borne by the state budget. And the passage of vehicles will be free of charge.

"In the 2024 budget, we have foreseen 2 billion ALL that will be invested for the first 5 km of Tirana-Durra", declared the director of the Albanian Road Authority, Evis Berberi during a television interview at the end of last year.

Faktoje's verifications show that the project trumpeted as the most important for 2024, is not planned in the budget.

The detailed list of public investment projects 2024-2026 does not include any type of financing for the expansion of the Tirana-Durres road. The 2 billion lek that Berberi claims are budgeted, at the moment are just a wish expressed publicly. But despite this fact, the institution he leads insists otherwise. The Road Authority says that the money is in the budget and the first phase of the works will start this year.

"During the first phase, 5.8 km will be expanded. The value of the financing for this phase is 2 billion/lek foreseen in the state budget of 2024", informed ARRSH for Faktoje.

Actions need money, not words

Although there is no clear date for the start of the works, the Albanian Road Authority calculates that the project for the expansion of 38 km from Tirana to Durrës requires 218 million euros. The works will be divided into several phases. The first intervention includes the segment from the Kamza bend to the Rinas overpass.

"During the first phase, 5.8 km will be expanded. The current width is 18.6 m and the final width, together with the expansion, will be 35.1 m", explains the Road Authority.

The road, built in 2001, now counts three times the planned traffic. For this reason, experts consider the intervention necessary.

Tirana-Durres requires 218 million euros, but ARRSH does not have a penny to

"The widening of the road is necessary, but I see the biggest problem in the entrances and exits of this segment. So the start and finish of it, how much will they afford because we go to the bottle neck and what did we gain? Nothing. Therefore, the expansion plan must definitely include entrances and exits to the secondary roads", says engineer Fatmir Haxho.

If the stated funding is secured, only for the first phase (2024) the works will last two years (2026). While the deadline for the full completion of the work is in question because it depends on the budget.

"Funding will continue in years based on the state budget. The time for the complete completion depends on the funding that will be available over the years from the state budget", argues the Albanian Road Authority.

A paid pass is not excluded

Plans for the expansion of the Tirana-Durres road are not new. The intervention on the Tirana-Durrës road has returned to the public seven years after a plan to grant it with a concession.

At that time, the concession of this axis was preceded by a project of the Albanian Road Authority for its expansion from two to three lanes. The ARA project in 2016 was divided into three lots; Kamzë-Vorë, Vorë-Sukth and Sukth-Durrës. The segment from the Kamza crossing to Vorë constituted the first lot. The project envisaged 3 passing lanes for each side of the road and a 2.6 meter wide traffic divider area.

The footprint of this project affected 19 villages of Tirana and Durrës. The expansion would cover an area of ??agricultural land of about 752 thousand square meters, worth about 3.5 million euros. Also, the footprint of the project was calculated to extend to about 68 thousand square meters of land, worth 4 million euros, which would be expropriated by the government.

But while ARRSH was planning the expansion, the government had spent millions of euros on various projects for this road. Part of them was the planting of palm trees on both sides of the segment.

In 2014, the government spent 2 million euros for the rehabilitation of the entrance part of the Tirana-Durrës road. A decade later, the intervention is expected to start again here.

Tirana-Durres requires 218 million euros, but ARRSH does not have a penny to

This time, referring to public declarations, the plan does not include granting concessions. However, the documents show the opposite.

"The planned improvement of the current highway between Tirana and Durrës will include a toll system, so an alternative route must be provided. For this purpose, the road that connects the two cities through Ndroqi and Plepa should be widened" is written in a document of the ARSH.

cONcluSiON

Tirana and Durrës are 46 minutes away, but without any doubt that the distance of 38 kilometers between the two cities takes us all more time. The road built two decades ago currently carries three times the planned traffic. The expansion of this road requires 218 million euros, but the Albanian Road Authority has not yet provided the first amount for the start of the works. Plans to make the Tirana-Durres road a four-lane highway require money, not words. Therefore, the statement of the director of ARRSH Evis Berberi that "In the budget of 2024 we have foreseen 2 billion lek that will be invested for the first 5 km of Tirana-Durra.", we will categorize as untrue./ Faktoje.al

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