Elbasan-Qafë Thane, soon tenders for lots 5 and 6

2024-01-16 15:30:00, Aktualitet CNA

Elbasan-Qafë Thane, soon tenders for lots 5 and 6

Illustrative photo

At least four lots of the Elbasan-Qafë Thane road are currently in various stages of construction as the government anticipates opening the tender for the other two lots 5 and 6 soon.

During an inspection of Lot 3 of the works, Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku said that this road takes on special importance as part of the VIII corridor. The head of ARRSH confirmed that the point where the part of the road will end in the Albanian territory and where the Macedonian side will take it has already been agreed. The length of the tunnel is 5.8 kilometers, almost as long as the Llogara tunnel.

"We are located again in corridor 8 in segment 3 of Elbasan-Qafë Thane. It is the meeting point of two segments 2 and 3. We have started work on segment 3 and 4. The segments are fragmented due to geology. We are in an area at Kthesa e Murrashi from Labinot Fusha in the direction of Librazhdi. The geology has been good, but we are hilly terrain and we don't have the comfort that we had in 1-2 which was on the river bed", said Balluku.

During the presentation, the director of ARRSH said that he is currently working with DSO to relocate the distribution lines to open the work front as some of them are located on the road body.

He underlined that the second segment of the road is 3.2 kilometers with a width of 28 meters. The road body has four lanes and is a category B road with a speed limit of 90 kilometers per hour, but designed for 130 km. In the third segment, the works started in December and a volume of 5.5 percent of the total has been completed.

"While we are building segment 1 and 2 of the 8th corridor that starts from Elbasan Qafë-Thanë, that's what the project is called, but we will go to the new division that we have designed and agreed with North Macedonia as the goal is to have a new exit that connects the countries with a tunnel and we will be close to Bushtrica Bridge. We have reached an agreement where we will finish and where they will take it. We have a tunnel with a length of approximately 5.8 kilometers, it is close to that of Llogara and we think it is the best point as it shortens 24 km of road and the financial cost", said Berberi.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy said that the benefit in time from this road shortening is great if we consider that this road is part of corridor 8 and will be followed by the new work from Elbasan to Lekaj.

"So at the Rrogozhina roundabout where it intersects with the Blue Corridor and what is important is that we have the opportunity to have a complete network that will serve the Port of Durrës and the Dry Port in Struga. Lot 5 and 6 remain, for which we will announce the competition very soon in order to close the section from Labinoti to the exit of Librazhdi", said Balluku.

Lot 3 of Elbasan-Qafë Thane is one of those with the greatest commitment due to a 300-meter long and 32-meter high bridge, while there will also be two tunnels, one 500 and one 300 meters long. During the inspection, emphasis was placed on the Elbasan Bypass, which is another project that should be seen as a priority as it connects three highways: the one from Elbasan to North Macedonia, the one from Tirana-Elbasan and the one from Elbasan to Rrogozhin./ Monitor