The Government of Albania on July 1st has announced a launch of an international tender for the development of EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.35 billion) motorway stretch of Adriatic-Ionian motorway.

The project involves the development of 115 km motorway stretch from Milot in the north of the country to Fier in the south. The new road will also connect Albania´s north with the Tirana International Airport. The Milot to Fier stretch accounts for 37% of the Adriatic-Ionian motorway that will go through the eastern coast of Albania that lies on Adriatic and Ionian seas.

The project works will include the adaptation of existing 62 km or the road and construction of a new 53 km long road. The speed limit of the motorway will vary from 90 to 130 km/h and the motorway will reduce the travel time between Milot and Fier to three hours. The stretch will be a toll motorway. The private partner will also be required to build and maintain secondary toll-free roads to give citizens an option to drive slower but free of charge.

The Adriatic-Ionian motorway is a part of a larger Blue Highway project which will ink Croatian, Montenegrin and Albanian coastlines together. Blue Highway is an important project which will connect Central Europe and North of Italy with the Balkans and Greece.

On the tender announcement ceremony, Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku announced her expectations that the contract with the private partner will be signed in 2020.