TIRANA (Albania), January 17 (SeeNews) – Albania’s infrastructure and energy ministry said on Wednesday it has received an offer from a Turkish consortium for the construction of an airport in the southwestern coastal city of Vlora.
The offer of the consortium comprising Turkish construction firms Cengiz, Kalyon and Kolin will be evaluated by a team of experts from the ministry of infrastructure and energy and the ministry of finance and economy who will then determine the next steps according to the legal procedures, the infrastructure and energy ministry said in a statement.
“We have received an official offer for the great strategic investment of Vlora's new national airport,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a separate statement posted on Facebook, adding that the construction works are expected to start in June.
Vlora airport is expected to help Albania's economic development by fostering employment growth and giving a boost to the tourism sector in the south of the country, local media quoted Rama as saying in an interview on Monday.
The details of the offer submitted by the Turkish consortium were not made public in the statement of the infrastructure ministry .
Currently, Albania's only operational airport is the Tirana International Airport Mother Teresa.
Vlora is Albania's second largest seaport after Durres.
The three Turkish construction firms are part of a larger consortium that it is currently building and will operate the third airport of Istanbul, which Turkey hopes will become one of the world’s largest by passenger numbers.
The number of foreign tourists who visited Albania in the January-November period of 2017 rose 22.9% on the year to 2.32 million, according to data from the country's statistical office, INSTAT.