Pristina-Merdare highway starts building in spring, costs totaling up to 250m euros

So said Infrastructure Minister Arba Abrashi at the media conference for presenting 100 days of his work.

Minister Abrashi has also said infrastructure projects that were presented in the US on 4 September are among the most strategic projects that have received support from the White House and are now being supported by the European Union.

Even for the Besi-Merdre highway, which is one of the projects pledged in Washington, Abrashi said it would start building in the spring costing up to 250m euros.

“Projects that cover this ministry, such as highways, railways, multimodal and feasibility station for railway to the Adriatic Sea, I think there are positive movements and concrete steps. The next Monday will meet DFC officials and I believe we are a step ahead of finalisation of the financial agreement. I've handed over to them (DFC) the feasibility study that there is for the highway, we know how much it costs, we know the transmission and how it will look. So we can start very quickly about this project, and now we only talk about mobilizing funds to accomplish this project. The railway needs feasibility, even for the railway to Merdare, even for the Adriatic Sea. Visibility ends this year for these two railway projects... I believe the Bessie-Merdare highway begins during the spring of next year”, Abrashi said.

While the challenge for this, Abrashi says property expropriation remains, where more than 300 infrastructure projects remain pending, even though there is enough budget for their realisation.

Minister Abrashi talks to Pristina on Pristina's Pristina route, which he said was meant to open new lines and higher-intensity works, as this project has remained behind.

A road that hasn't been dealt with or left behind for a long time and which is highly frequented, unfortunately there are many accidents, we've already started dealing with it as Pristina-Podujevo Street. For which road we have a budget and we intend very quickly to open the procedures for remaining stocks. The next road that we aim to invest next year is the road from Peja to Rugova mountains, and then the link to Montenegro. Hasi in Prizren has long been bypassed and this year is part of the budget. We aim to open up the remaining areas of the road from Komorani to Skenderaj, because this road has remained for a long time, he said.

Minister Abrashi also said that in the spring the Kijevo-Zhaq highway starts, where in October the tender is expected to be announced, which is through EURZH financing.

Speaking of 100 days of his work, he said the priority is Civil Aviation, where it aims to lower taxes at Pristina Airport.

In the end, Abrashi said he expects the ministry's budget to be cut for next year because of pandemic.