INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES

Its location at the center of a natural crossroad of the main transport corridors across Europe, places Albania in a strategic geographic position. With the completion of Corridor VIII, the expected implementation of the gas pipeline project TAP, with further development of infrastructures capacities of the leading ports, Albania will connect Mediterranean hub ports and European markets they serve, with the Balkan Region and further with the markets surrounding the Black Sea. The general Albanian transport infrastructure is subject to the general transportation plan, adopted every five years by the Albanian Government, which has recently focused its performance in the construction of new parts of the transport network, especially of the road.

1) Air Transport
 The only airport operating in Albania is theTirana International Airport, Mother Tereza situated about 18 km in the northwest (16 km in the airline) of Tirana, which is the largest project and the most important investment in this sector.

2) Road transport
In relation to infrastructure, one of the largest projects was the completion of the highway Corridor Durrës – Kukës – Morinë.This important axis with a length of 170 km, connects the capital and the port of Durres, with the new state of Kosovo.

Albania has approximately 20,000 km of roads and road construction is growing rapidly. Corridor VIII, currently under construction, will connect the Albanian port of Durres with the Varna (Bulgaria) through Tirana, Thana Neck, Skopje, Deve Bair, Sofia, Plovdiv and Burgas. This corridor will be the main east-west connection through Albania and will become an important transport link between the Mediterranean and Balkan countries.

In 2008, special attention was paid to regional cooperation in the context of road transport with neighboring countries such as Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Greece. During 2011 were reconstructed across the country 452 km of roads from which 132 km have been completed and 320 are in the process of conclusion. In 2011 began the reconstruction of many major roads, including: Highway Elbasan-Tirana, Librazhd-Qafë Thane, segment Lin-Pogradec etc.

3) Railway
The railway network in Albania is composed of 447 km of primary railways and 230 km secondary railways. Main priority is the reactivation of the railway network through leverage of private capital and financing international institutions as well as various donors.

4) Sea transport
Sea transport in Albania is carried out through 4 ports: Durrës, Vlora, Saranda and Shengjini.
The largest and the most important one is the Port of Durrës, which captures  81.8% of all the country’s maritime transport.