“Fier-Tepelena” construction postponed

“The final deadline in the agreement was November 2011. We want to postpone it, because the second segment has not finished yet”, declared Ernest Noka, Deputy Prime Minister of Public Affairs.

The initial agreement for the construction of the Fier-Tepelena road was signed more than seven years ago, on June 2005. The new government of the Democratic Party blocked the construction because they supported another alternative project, called “the Southern Axis”. But the strong objections of the donators obliged them to unblock the construction and the agreement was sent to Parliament only in 2007. Since then the project faced other delays, related with the sub-contractors.

“This is the first road. The Southern Axis is the first road that Berisha blocked after coming to power in 2005”, declared the Socialist MP, Arben Malaj.

75% of the constructions at this road have ended. The government says that the entire axis will end by October 2012, but the project is facing another problem recently. A 4.5 km long segment that goes by the Kalivaci Hydropower Plant might get flooded. The government is obliged to change the project with a 12 million EUR cost that have caused a conflict between the government and the company that is building the hydropower plant.

The total cost of the project is 70 million EUR, 20 of which have not been paid yet. The main donators are EBRD, BEI and the EU.

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