A joint venture between Bechtel and Enka has been selected by the government of Kosovo to build a 60km motorway linking the capital, Pristina, to neighbouring Macedonia.
The new road, to be called Route 6, will be Kosovo’s second motorway. The country’s first, Route 7, runs from Morina on the Albanian border to the north of Pristina, and was built by the Bechtel-Enka team. It was delivered in November 2013, a year ahead of schedule.
Construction of the motorway is due to start straight away and is expected to take four years to complete.
Fehmi Mujota, Kosovo’s minister of infrastructure, said that the motorway should help Kosovo "become a crossroads for traffic from ports in Greece and Albania. Improving our transport links is crucial to developing new and expanded businesses and will spur long-term economic growth".
The Bechtel-Enka team has trained more than 10,000 Kosovars for the Route 7 project and has said it will continue to place a high priority on hiring Kosovars and local suppliers to successfully deliver Route 6.
The two companies have completed a number of major infrastructure projects in the region, including motorways in Albania, Croatia, and Turkey.
This project is proceeding better than some others that Bechtel has undertaken in the Balkans.
