GoA negotiates with IDB for “Patriotic Road”

Tirana, 8 Feb. 2007 (AENews) – Government of Albania has started negotiations for a loan with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), for the construction of its main priority, Durres-Pristine Corridor.

“We are negotiating with the Islamic Development Bank for a loan of $35 million, part of which will be under concessionary terms”, GoA explained in a detailed plan, presented to IMF board, on how it intended to finance the project.

“The cost of the complex middle section, for which a construction contract has been agreed with a consortium of international companies, is expected to be about €430 million (excluding VAT). The total cost of the project is estimated at about €500 million (about 5½ percent of GDP) over the 2006-09 period”, GoA stated.

In a letter send to IMF Board by Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Minister of Finance Ridvan Bode, and Central Bank governor Adrian Fullani, they explained the governments limited capacity to finance Albania’s most expensive project, stressing at the same time its intention to make the necessary efforts to finance the project.

“Our domestic budget resources are not sufficient to fully cover the costs for the Durres-Morine corridor”, GoA stated. “We need to arrange external financing of about €200 million over the next three years for the remainder of the project, most of which will likely be under non-concessionary terms”.

GoA intends to convince IMF officials to permit financing of such a project despite the fact that IMF officials had previously considered the investment as exaggerated considering the importance of other public administration priorities as the reduction of poverty.

Short URL: http://www.albanianeconomy.com/news/?p=223

Posted by admin on Feb 8 2007. Filed under Economy, General News, Invest-Inform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry