(Economist) Highway across Albania, to Kosovo and Metohia

Albanians have one dream – “Corridor 8” which will open them up to Europe, to East Europe where are all potential markets, and to West Europe where all investments come from. The roads, railway lines, ports, infrastructural logistics, and servicing activities… and Corridor would help Albania to end the period of political isolation.

Corridor 8 is one of 10 “Trans-European corridors” (TEN-T) imagined as a way to easy up the exchange of goods, people, oil and other energents between the European union, Balkan lands which gravitate towards the Black and Caspian sea, and states of the Central Asia. In EU Italy is most interested for “Corridor 8” which would follow the former “Via Appia” the road that connected Rome with Brindizzi before it deviated East towards the other side of the Adriatic sea.

The modern “Corridor 8” should go through a direction Bari-Brindizzi-Drac-Valona-Tirana-Pogradec-Skoplje-Sofia-Burgas-Varna. Corridor 8 is so called multi-modal transporting system along the base East-West which is made out of sea and river ports, airports, and nearley out of 1.270 km of railway and 960 km of road traffics.

Agreement about the construction of Corridor 8 has been reached since 1991, and a Document about the agreement was signed in Bari, in September, 2002, by the representatives of Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Italy and Turkey.

Busek: Corridor 10 in any way

Delegation of the Republic of Macedonia represented last year at the Conference about the road infrastructure in Belgrade its part of the road traffic of 304 km in longitude which goes from Kafasan on the border crossing on the North of Ohrid lake, across Tetovo and Skoplje up to Deva Baira on the border crossing with Bulgaria.

In Albania, and especially with temporary organs of government in Kosovo and Metohia seems, however, that there are dillemas in regard with the direction of Corridor 8. The agreed one on the international level in Albania goes from the port of Valona to Drac at North, across 35 km of Tirana up to Cafe sana, in South-East.

However, temporary institutions of government in Pristina would like that Corridor 8 goes across North-East Albanian city of Kukes and enters the border crossing of Morin, 20 km on the North-West from Djakovica.

In the beginning of 2000’s, Ded Kol, the editor-in-chief of the largest economic journal in Albania, “Economy”, estimated that this kind of highway would strengthen the economic independency of Kosovo.

“Albanian waters on both sides of the border would increase international political contacts in order to solve both commercial and political problems and fight together against the organized criminal which is a great challenge for Tirana and Pristana”, said Kola.

Back then, coordinator of the Pact for stability of South-Eastern Europe, Erhard Busek stressed out that the road Drac-Pristina was not a priority of the coutnries of the region and that the Pact would not ecourage this project.

Busek suggested indirectley to the province’s government which is under the management of the United nations, that the Pact could finance Corridor 10 which connects Pristina with Skoplje.

These days, the Albanian government approved the contract with the American company Bechtel International Inc. about the construction of the section of the road from Reseno, near Kukes, city on the 200 km North-East from Tirana, towards the border still formal of Serbia. The works on the road with 4 lines of 55 km in longitude, should begin during October. The section Resen-Morina is a part of 170 km long highway which leads from Drac towards the East border of Albania.

The highway would be around 45 km shorter from the existing roads and it will make the journey shorter, which now takes even 6 hours, to even 2 hours top. That is, the existing road that has only 2 lines, is full of wholes, and makes the average drive impossible above 40 km/h.

The value of the works is around 250 millions eur and will be financied from the Albanian budget, but according to the officials in Tirana some international financial institutions will bring in credits.

The secret who they work for

Bechtel Group with headquarters in San Francisco is the largest construction company in USA and from the foundation in 1925 it is in the property of the family that gave it the name. Besides its grandness (in 2005 Bechtel www.bechtel.com had 40.000 emploees on the projects in close to 50 countries and a profit of 18.1 billions dollars) the company is also famous for political influence and for being pretty introverted.

The latest critics on the account of Becthel are related on one hand with the family of Bin Ladin in Saudi Arabia, whose famous representative is Osama bin Ladin, the leader of the International terroristic network of Al Kaida, and on the other hand, with the way it got contracts for the works in Iraque after USA did invasion on this country.

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