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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.

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