Work on Corridor 8 In Albania to Start This Fall

The motorway of Corridor 8, the strategic road segment linking Albania with other regions, should have been concluded in 2000. However, work has not yet started in some of its segments or is only half-way completed. One day before leaving his post, the Minister of Transports and Telecommunications Maqo Lakrori promised that the work would start this fall. The situation remains critical in the Rrogozhina-Elbasan segment of the corridor, where the Turkish company BE-HA-SE left the work only half-way completed. The construction site has been abandoned for four months while debt to the workers and third parties has risen to several million dollars. The tension between the Turkish company and the Albanian authorities marked its climax this year when the company asked for additional funds. After the Albanian government stopped the disbursement of the funds to BE-HA-SE, the Turkish company stopped work and demanded international arbitration. Experts who have been watching the initial projects of the Corridor 8 segments have warned that the roads would not be long-lived, considering the shoddy workmanship and materials used by the foreign companies. Meanwhile, the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Corridor 8 between Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria has been put off until the fall for reasons not related to Albania, Minister of Transports and Telecommunication Lakrori said. This agreement was supposed to be signed last June; however, the countries through which this corridor passes have not been prepared for it.