Tirana-Durra Road will expand before tax of 2 euros begins

In 2014, the Albanian government decided that expansion of the Tirana-Durra road would be financed with state budget money. On the basis of this decision, Albanian road authority hired an Italian company to conduct feasibility study and road project.

The project was completed last year, but a few months later the government changed its stance by declaring the Tirana-Durra axis on the road list that will be granted with concession, Tch reports.

The Italian company SPEA's project envisions that the road will expand by two additional lanes to each side, including an emergency lane, at a total cost to the budget of 29.2 billion dollars.

But apparently the Italian project will remain only on paper. The government has listed the Tirana-Durra route on an axis list that will be granted by concession, setting a price ceiling of 49.1 billion dollars or 20 billion more from the Italian project.

But in the case of concession, this ceiling is almost hypothetical. The state budget does not pay any funds, as the road is built with private money and is paid directly by citizens through the transit fee.

Since Tirana-Durra is the largest circulation axis in Albania, it makes the concession automatically profitable, without having to be guaranteed by the state budget as in the Durres-Kukes road case.

Even if the crossing fee is set for two euros as proposed in the feasibility study, then for 30 years the Tirana-Durra concession can generate up to 1 billion euros in revenues.

But these are all preliminary accounts, as so far the concession project is still in its initial phase, and the transport ministry says it has not decided whether to accept the unattended offer it has reached.