Kosovo signs deal with US-Turkish consortium for highway

Mon, 12 Apr 2010

Pristina - Kosovo on Monday officially signed a 700-million- euro (951.5 million-dollar) deal with US-Turkish consortium Bechtel- Enka to build a motorway linking the country with Albania and Serbia.

"This is a historical moment for our country," Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said after the signing ceremony.

The project would "create new opportunities" and "generate thousands of new jobs," he said.

The 141-kilometer, four-lane highway leading from Kosovo's eastern border, with Serbia, to the south and Albania, was to be completed in three years, Kosovo's Transport Minister Fatmir Limaj said. Work should start this month, he added.

The new highway should give Kosovo access to the Adriatic Sea, through Albania. Bechtel-Enka has already built a segment of the highway in Albania.

The president of the Bechtel-Enka Consortium Michael Adams welcomed the deal. "This will be an important project for the development of Kosovo and the development of the economy of Kosovo," he said.

The Kosovan government announced the awarding of the deal to Bechtel-Enka in January. The company won the bid over competing offers from Austria, Italy, Greece and Turkey.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318330,kosovo-signs-deal-with-us-turkish-consortium-for-highway.html.