The Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, announced on Thursday the decision for a fee of 250 lek for passage through the Llogara tunnel, also announcing the traffic figures, approximately 911 thousand vehicles throughout a calendar year.
If traffic does not increase, the 911 thousand vehicles that will have to pay 250 lek each will generate a total of about 2.3 million euros per year, which, without taking into account the usual costs of operating the tunnel, could repay the total cost of construction for approximately 96 years.
The Llogara tunnel was contracted in October 2021 for 140 million euros. The government of Prime Minister Edi Rama granted the company another 60 million euros to cover additional raw material costs during the price crisis caused by Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2022, a war that brought about a temporary increase in the prices of construction materials, such as iron. The latest budget data shows that the total cost of the tunnel is 20.5 billion lek, while the cost of the connecting roads is 1.6 billion lek, for a total of 22 billion lek or 220 million euros.
The government has faced criticism for the reason that prompted it to spend so much money on a road project that serves an area that only comes alive during the tourist season, at a time when major communication axes such as Milot - Lezhë - Shkodër or the Elbasan city bypass are currently unfunded. The government has not given explanations for the reasons that prompted this investment, which significantly shortens the travel time to the coast by about 30 minutes compared to the Llogara pass, but does not help much due to traffic congestion at the capital's connecting points.
In addition to the Llogara tunnel, the road segment from Orikum to the tunnel was built through a concession contract with a total cost of 10.3 billion lek.
Balluku, meanwhile, stated that the government plans to build a bypass to relieve traffic congestion in Elbasan, but this statement is not supported in the least by the public investment document, a legal document that is approved by the Assembly as part of the state budget and which lists all public investments planned or in progress with domestic or foreign financing. According to this document, the Elbasan bypass project is included in the list of projects with foreign financing, but to date no donor or lender has been found. /BIRN/
