Skip to main content

Bechtel Enka opens first section of Pristina-Skopje motorway

The first part of the €600 million Arber Dzaferi motorway between Pristina, the capital of Kosovo and Skopje in Macedonia, has opened to traffic. US-Turkish consortium Bechtel Enka is contractor for the 60km road that will eventually link Pristina, capital of the former Serbian province Kosovo, and the city of Skopje, capital of Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic. The road - numerically Route 6 – is Kosovo’s second motorway and is named after the prominent Albanian intellectual and politician from
October 29, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The first part of the €600 million Arber Dzaferi motorway between Pristina, the capital of Kosovo and Skopje in Macedonia, has opened to traffic.

US-Turkish consortium 4138 Bechtel 5252 Enka is contractor for the 60km road that will eventually link Pristina, capital of the former Serbian province Kosovo, and the city of Skopje, capital of Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic.

The road - numerically Route 6 – is Kosovo’s second motorway and is named after the prominent Albanian intellectual and politician from Macedonia, Arber Dzaferi.

Bechtel Enka started work in June last year in the Kosovar village of Ugljare, between the municipalities of Kosovo Polje and Gracanica. Kosovo’s Minister of Infrastructure Fehmi Mujota said at the time that the project will be part of the country’s major southern trade route. It runs from Greece’s Agean ports including Thessaloniki, through Macedonia including Skopje, north into Kosovo and then west through Albania to ports on the Adriatic Sea.

The contract for the 60km Route 6 project was awarded after Bechtel Enka finished in November 2013 Kosovo’s first motorway, Route 7, a year ahead of schedule. Route 7 runs from Morina on the Albanian border to the north of Pristina.

A recent statement from Bechtel said the two companies have delivered a number of major infrastructure projects in the region, including motorways in Albania, Croatia and Turkey. Projects have included more than 28,000km of roads, 100 tunnels totalling about 350km and 25 major bridges.

One project was a €488 million motorway in Albania that opened in 2006. The 61km four-lane highway stretches from the town of ‪Rrëshen in the heart of the country to the north-eastern village of Kalimash. The scenic motorway, one of Albania’s largest infrastructure projects, includes a 5.5km twin-bore tunnel and 29 bridges built in a mountainous region.‬‬

“It is the central leg of a 171km highway traversing the country from the Adriatic Sea to the northeastern border with Kosovo,” a statement from Bechtel said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bechtel and Enka win highway contract for Kosovo
    July 2, 2014
    Bechtel and its joint-venture partner Enka have won a contract to build a 60km highway connecting Kosovo’s capital Pristina with neighbouring Macedonia. The new Route 6 highway will help improve Kosovo’s transport links, a highly important factor for the future economic development of this small, landlocked nation. Bechtel-Enka previously constructed Kosovo’s Route 7 highway, which was completed in November 2013, a whole year ahead of schedule. The Route 7 highway with Morina on the Albanian border through
  • Bechtel and Enka complete further Kosovan motorway stretch
    July 13, 2012
    Bechtel and its joint venture partner, Enka, have completed a further 4.5km of the Kosovo motorway. The new section, which takes the total completed by Bechtel and Enka to 42.5km, opened on Friday 13 July and connects with the stretch of motorway delivered in November 2011 going from Morinë at the border with Albania to Suhareka. The growing Kosovo motorway now extends to the Dule interchange in Northern Kosovo. The latest stretch was built in less than a year, ahead of schedule and within budget.
  • Kosovan highway ahead of schedule
    April 25, 2012
    In Kosovo, work is pushing ahead of schedule on the Route 7 highway to link capital Pristina with the Albanian border. Sections of the 120km highway have been opened, one year ahead of schedule. An official opening of several sections of the highway has been carried out by Kosovan leaders, including Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, President Atifete Jahjaga, and members of Parliament, along with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and US representatives Eliot Engel (D- NY) and Gary Peters (D-MI) joined thousan
  • Bechtel-Enka win North Macedonia deal
    March 21, 2023
    The US-Turkish joint venture will build four sections of the European Corridors VIII and X in the Balkan country north of Greece.