EBRD, EU, bilateral donors finance infrastructure projects in Western Balkans

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union, and bilateral donors are stepping up their support for vital infrastructure improvements in the Western Balkans. 

Donors are pooling their resources through the Western Balkans Investment Framework and approved €77.6 million in investment grants and technical cooperation for projects supported by a further €204 million in EBRD finance.

In Kosovo, new EU funds will help to build a key road section between the capital Pristina and the crossing point at Merdare in Serbia, as part of the Peace Highway. This infrastructure development is expected to improve regional trade and provide closer links to vital export markets, in particular EU countries. It is the shortest transport route in the region from the port of Durrës in Albania on the Adriatic coast to south-eastern and central Europe as well as to the Black Sea. 

In Albania, the Tirana bypass, a 21.5km-long section of the Mediterranean Corridor, will benefit from an investment grant by the EU as well as finance from the EBRD. It will provide a key link between two road arteries: one leading from Trieste in Italy to Kalamata in Greece and another connecting Albania’s regions and North Macedonia to the port of Durrës.

Furthermore, bilateral donors approved two vital municipal water projects. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a new investment will improve the water supply and network in and around the town of Visoko. In Kosovo, the citizens of Mitrovica will benefit from an upgrade to the local wastewater treatment plant and sewerage network.