The U.S. Bechtel and Austria’s Strabag and Alpine were among 25 companies that applied to take part in a tender for building a tunnel on the road from Albanian capital Tirana to the industrial town of Elbasan, officials said on Tuesday.

Officials from the General Road Department will notify in 10 days the companies that have met the preliminary requirements and prepared documents in line with the specifications contained in the tender documents.

The government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who has launched a far-reaching road building program that includes road linking Albania to Kosovo, has earmarked 15 billion leks (145 million U.S. dollars) for the tunnel under the Krraba Pass.

The road of 30 kilometers from Tirana to Elbasan passes now over the ridge of the Krraba Pass along magnificent scenery, but its dogleg curves mean it takes travelers at least one hour to negotiate its ups and downs. When the new road in the valley is finished, the trip will be cut to 20 minutes.

When the road is finished, traffic from Albania’s main port of Durres bound for Balkan countries could use the new road to shorten the distance between Elbasan and Durres, Albania’s largest seaport city.

The road from Durres to Elbasan is part of the European Union’ s Corridor Eight that is meant to link Western Europe with Eastern Europe. The road was rehabilitated into a two-lane road, but its future as a corridor with phone lines and fuel pipelines has remained on paper despite promises of funding.

January 18, 2011
XINHUA

• A Permanent Economic Emergency