Page 30 - bne IntelliNews Georgia country report November 2017

Weekly Lists
November 11, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 30
bne:
Infrastructure
Albania plans to
raise the budget for infrastructure by 42%
Pristina-Hani i Elezit motorway to be ready by end-2018
The Albanian government plans to increase the budget for infrastructure projects by 42% in 2018, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on November 8.
One of the government's priorities, as part of next year's budget are investments in the infrastructure.
“Our ambition in the next four years is to make our national roads safe and to ensure mobility,” Rama said in the government state- ment as he presented the budget to companies and interest groups.
The Pristina-Hani i Elezit motorway, a project started in July 2014, will be ready for circulation by the end of 2018, according to spokeswoman Ela Ruçi at the Turkish-American consortium Bechtel-Enka, the winning company for the construction of
the road, reported Zeri daily on November 7. The route will link Kosovo and Macedonia’s capital cities, Pristina and Skopje. But economic reforms are needed if the motorway is to help with the country’s exports, and not just its imports, experts warned.
"The work is proceeding in line with the schedule set with the Ministry of Infrastructure, with whom we have agreed that the final opening ceremony, meaning the completion of the works, will be at the end of 2018," said Ruçi.
Gas shippers have confirmed interest in the planned Baltic Pipe to link Norway with Poland via Denmark by submitting binding bids for 15-year capacity transmission contracts using the pipeline, Polish and Danish gas grid operators Gaz-System and Energinet said on October 31.
The commitments mark the successful end of the second phase of the so-called open season, in which Gaz-System and Energinet gauged interest from companies in the pipeline. The Baltic Pipe is supposed to reduce Poland’s dependence on gas imports from Russia. The final investment decision on building the pipeline, preliminarily scheduled for 2018, appears likelier than ever to be in favour of going ahead with the project.
The Baltic Pipe is expected to become operational in 2022, the year Poland’s long-term contract on gas supplies with Russia ends. The contract is likely not to be renewed, Warsaw has claimed repeatedly.
Commercial interest in Baltic Pipe affirmed