On July 9, Albanian Minister of infrastructure Belinda Balluku accused the opposition of misinforming citizens by claiming that using the Milot-Fier road will cost citizens €17.5.
During today’s parliament session, Balluku claimed that the €17.5 round-trip price was made up by the opposition. Explaining the details of the concessionary contract for Milot-Fier, she said that using this highway will cost citizens €0.075 per km.
Exit News reviewed the presentation of the project on July 1, 2020, alongside the documentation released by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy.
The Milot-Fier highway will be 115 km long and will be split in 6 sections:
- Section 1: Milot – Thumanë – 13.5 km long;
- Section 2: Thumanë – Kashar – 20 km long;
- Section 3: Kashar – Pezë Helmës – 9 km long;
- Section 4: Pezë Helmës – Luz i Vogël – 24 km long;
- Section 5: Luz i Vogël / Lekaj – I/C Rrogozhinë – 8 km long;
- Section 6: Rrogozhinë – entrance of the Fier Bypass – 38 km long.
Based on the €0.075 cost per km the Minister announced, to use each of these segments, one must pay:
- Section 1: Milot – Thumanë – €1.0125;
- Section 2: Thumanë – Kashar – €1.5;
- Section 3: Kashar – Pezë Helmës – €0.675;
- Section 4: Pezë Helmës – Luz i Vogël – €1.8;
- Section 5: Luz i Vogël / Lekaj – I/C Rrogozhinë – €0.6;
- Section 6: Rrogozhinë – entrance of the Fier Bypass – €2.85.
To use each section of the road, from Milot to the entrance of the Fier Bypass, which amounts to 112.5 km, one must pay a total of €8.4375.
To return the same way, for a round-trip, the total cost would be €16.875.
One can note a 2.5 km discrepancy between the road’s total length, 115 km, and the sum of the six sections, 112.5 km. The cost of this distance amounts to €0.375, which brings the total of a round-trip through the Milot-Fier highway to €17.25.
