Elbasan-Rrogozhinë returns to the highway/ The government opens a 150 million euro tender for the first phase

2024-10-08 20:12:00, Aktualitet CNA

Elbasan-Rrogozhinë returns to the highway/ The government opens a 150

Just a few weeks after putting it on the list of projects of national importance, the government has announced the first tenders for the construction of the Elbasan-Lekaj road. The Albanian Road Authority announced the tenders for the first 6 lots of the segment, which connects Elbasan with Rrogozhina and is part of the 8th Corridor.

According to the documents, these lots have been converted into a highway with at least 2 lanes in each direction of movement, the segment from Elbasan to Ura e Grykshi with a total cost of about 150 million euros. Accordingly, 75 million euros will go to the segment from Elbasan to Papër and approximately the same amount for the segment from Papër to Ura e Grykshit.

According to the tender documents, the project starts near the former Metallurgical Plant in Elbasan, where the connection will be made with the Elbasain bypass that is being designed up to Lekaj, where it will join the existing blue corridor highway.

The length of the road is 40.7km and passes through the regions of Elbasan (Bradashesh, Shirgjan, Gjegjan, Cërrik, Papër), Peqin (Pajovë, Shez, Gjocaj, Peqin, Karine) and Kavajë (Sinaballaj, Rrogozhinë).

These tenders account for less than half of the total cost of this road. According to the unique list of projects approved by the government, the Elbasan-Lekaj road will have a total cost of 360 million euros. Tenders for the segments from Ura e Grykshi to Lekaj will be announced next.

Elbasan Lekaj

Currently, the road from Elbasan to Rrogozhin is one-lane. Through these tenders, the government intends to convert it into a highway, which will have at least 2 lanes of traffic on each side.

Based on the road category, the speed allowed after the completion of the works will be in the range of 90 km/h to 140 km/h. This road is part of Corridor 8. This corridor is considered as the core infrastructure project in our country, as it is expected to take the flows in ports, airports and logistics to another level, as according to studies, there will be an increase in volumes in ports by over 40%.

The main footprint of Corridor 8 includes sea and river ports, airports, multimodal ports, roads and railways, with a total of 1,270 km of rail and 960 km of road. It starts from the southern Italian ports of Bari and Brindisi to the Albanian ports of Durres and Vlora, then through the capitals – Tirana, Skopje, Sofia – via Plovdiv, ending in the Bulgarian ports of Burgas and Varna on the Black Sea.

In the Albanian territory, it extends to about 154 km, while work is currently being done on 8 other lots from Elbasan, in the direction of North Macedonia./ Kapital.al