Serbia blocking Kosovo-Albania power line connection

18/11/2016 00:00

Serbia is blocking the interconnection between Albania and Kosovo. The Minister of Energy said the government will ask European powers to assist for a solution. “This line has not been operating yet, for political reasons. I am certain that Prime Minister Rama will make it clear in Berlin, during his meeting with Chancellor Merkel, that […]

Serbia is blocking the interconnection between Albania and Kosovo. The Minister of Energy said the government will ask European powers to assist for a solution.

“This line has not been operating yet, for political reasons. I am certain that Prime Minister Rama will make it clear in Berlin, during his meeting with Chancellor Merkel, that we need this process to be completed, and the line should be operational”, he said.

The cost of this line was 42 million EUR, but it is not operating because Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s System Operator, creating a stalemate that has caused concern among the EU.

“The EU is waiting for the line between Albania and Kosovo to become operational, as soon as possible, because it would improve the air quality in Kosovo, making it more depending from coal”, said Jan Rudolf, EU representative in Tirana.

Albania signed for a soft-loan agreement with the German KFW Bank for 50 million EUR that will build the Albania-Macedonia line.

“These three lines were funded by the German government, through the KFW bank”, said Cristoph Itskens, KFW Director for Southeastern Europe.

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