Location Multiple Locations, Albania
Client Albanian Development Fund
Services Project Management
Project Value €100 Million
As the leader of an international consortium, Hill is providing technical assistance and project implementation support services to the Albanian Development Fund to increase the public agency’s capacity for planning and implementing the Albania Infrastructure and Tourism-Enabling Project (AITP). The project is funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Union.
Comprising multiple construction projects and funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other European Union investments, the AITP aims to develop Albania’s tourism sector by enhancing the country’s historical, cultural, and natural heritage sites and improve access to these sites by upgrading transportation infrastructure throughout the country. The AITP includes planned new construction and renovation projects at archeological parks and museums, religious sites, and historic castles, as well as within wetlands, along beaches, in the mountains, and in other scenic natural areas. Planned infrastructure projects include new bridge and roadway construction and improvements to water and wastewater systems and existing transportation infrastructure. By boosting the country’s capacity for tourism, the AITP aims to facilitate countrywide economic development and further pave the way for Albania’s European Union membership.
The consortium’s responsibilities include developing methodologies, procedures, legal instruments, and prioritization tools for strategic infrastructure projects, as well as revising and maintaining Albania’s National Single Project Pipeline and Sector Single Project Pipelines. The team also delivers capacity-building programs through seminars, workshops, and on-the-job training sessions, and provides detailed project life cycle management support, including feasibility studies, tender preparation, and project monitoring. In addition, the team helps manage the application process for additional funding opportunities, such as the Western Balkans Investment Framework.
One notable AITP project supported by the consortium is the new bridge over the Osum River in Berat. The new bridge will connect the Berat bypass road to the Bilçë commune via the existing Goricë-Bilçë road, making the region’s broader roadway network more accessible to the residents of Bilçë, Malinat, Zhitom, and other rural communities and improving tourist access to a variety of nearby cultural and agricultural areas, such as Bilçë’s famous olive groves. Additionally, the bridge will support pedestrian and bicycle access and, by reducing automobile traffic through the area of Goricë, make Berat’s overall urban landscape more pedestrian friendly.
The bridge will be approximately 270 meters long and feature a pair of 3.5-meter-wide automobile lanes, a 1.6-meter-wide sidewalk, and a 3.8-meter-wide combined bicycle path and sidewalk. It will include nine spans supported by eight piers and two abutments. The bridge’s design adheres to European Union standards, in accordance with all funding requirements. The project also includes two new roadway sections leading up to the bridge, one on each side of the river.
