Brussels, 11/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) decided on Monday 11 June to grant a €35 million loan to Albania to finance the construction of the motorway by-pass around Fier, one of the country's main cities.
The project concerns the construction of 22 kilometres of a dual two-lane motorway on a new alignment around the town of Fier, situated near the coast in central Albania. This is the last remaining section to be improved on the main north-south axis between the capital Tirana, Durrës (the second largest city) and Greece. The EIB has already financed other sections of this route which connects Albania and Greece and which is situated on Pan-European Corridor VIII, the multimodal axis for south-east Europe (Bari/Brindisi - Durrës/Vlorë - Tirana - Skopje - Sofia - Burgas/Varna). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will also co-finance this investment. Over the three-year construction period, it is estimated 1,550 jobs will be created per year. (OL/transl.rt)