A massive tranche of financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will pay for infrastructure works in Albania and Kosovo. In all, some €77.6 million of funding has been approved to upgrade key infrastructure in the Western Balkans
Donors are pooling their resources through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) and approved €77.6 million in investment grants and technical cooperation for projects supported by a further €204 million in EBRD finance.
In Kosovo, new EU funds will help to build a key road section between the capital Pristina and the crossing point at Merdare in Serbia, as part of the Peace Highway. This infrastructure development is expected to improve regional trade and provide closer links to vital export markets, in particular EU countries. It is the shortest transport route in the region from the port of Durrës in Albania on the Adriatic coast to south-eastern and central Europe as well as to the Black Sea.
In Albania, the Tirana bypass, a 21.5km section of the Mediterranean Corridor, will benefit from an investment grant by the EU as well as finance from the EBRD. It will provide a key link between two road arteries: one leading from Trieste in Italy to Kalamata in Greece and another connecting Albania’s regions and North Macedonia to the port of Durrës.
