Rguga e Kombit, the biggest investment in transport infrastructure is proving to be a highly feasible axis as the number of users is increasing rapidly year by year.
Official data from INSTAT shows that the number of passengers who entered and exited the customs point of Morini reached 8.1 million in 2022, who were also highway users at the same time.
Passenger flow increased by 22.6% compared to 2021, while compared to 2020, passenger flow increased more than twice (see the data in the graph below).
The operational data show that the flow of movements has increased rapidly even in 2023. The Minister of Tourism reports that visitors from Kosovo during the period January-August 2023 increased by 17% compared to the same period a year ago.
Also, the exchange of goods between Kosovo and Albania from the Road of the Nation increased by about 3 times, since 2008, before the circulation was opened, until 2022.
Rruga e Kombit has become the main generator of tourism in the tourist centers of Durrës, Lezha and Velipoja.
The flow of users will further increase on Ruga e Kombi with the classification as an extension of the main European road network, TEN-T.
Serbia is building the continuity of its part from Niš to Merdare (the border with Kosovo) and Kosovo, for its part, with the financing of the European Union, is progressing with projects in the part from Pristina to Merdare.
Called the Highway of Peace, as it unites Kosovo, Serbia and Albania, with a high standard road, it has received funding from the European Union.
The Peace Highway is a total of 314 kilometers long, as it starts from Lezha in Albania and ends in Merdara, the border with Bulgaria, covering Pristina and Nis.
The completed part is from Lezha to Pristina and 103 kilometers remain to be built, from Pristina to Merdare, of which 76 km are in the territory of Serbia and 27 km in that of Kosovo. The total cost for these kilometers is about 947 million euros.
While from Pristina to Merdare there are 27 kilometers that will cost 207 million euros.
The National Road Continuity is co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), while the European Union is offering investment grants through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).
The whole project is an extension of the extended Trans-European Transport Network of the Orient/Eastern Mediterranean (TEN-T) and the South-East European Transport Observatory (SEETO), a long corridor connecting Lezha in Albania through Pristina in Kosovo to Nis of Serbia, according to data from the investment framework in the Western Balkans.
This article was published by Monitor.al and reposted by Tiranapost.al
