03 Jul 14
At a ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of a highway connecting Pristina and Skopje, Kosovo and Macedonian officials said it would bring Albanians in both countries closer.
Pristina
Construction on the ‘Arben Xhaferi’ highway – named after a late Albanian politician in Macedonia – started on Thursday with a ceremony inaugurated by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and state officials from Macedonia in Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje.
“Today is a special day for Kosovo, it is a blessed day,” Thaci said after symbolically beginning work on the 60-kilometre highway.
The highway is being built by US-Turkish consortium Bechtel-Enka at a fixed price of 599,944,263 euro.
The same consortium recently completed a highway linking Kosovo and Albania.
Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Musa Xhaferi said the highway was important “because it connects Albanians in both countries”.
“It will create a political, social, economic and brotherly cohesion,” he added.
The Kosovo ministry of infrastructure, meanwhile, has promised to make the contract available for public viewing — something that wasn’t done for the highway to Albania.
The previous contract with Bechtel-Enka drew criticism because is was officially made public. It was later revealed that it contained provisions highly favourable to Bechtel-Enka, which led to a soaring price tag.
