Albanian companies winner of Vlora Airport consortium

Vlora Airport project

 In Albania, a consortium of companies, where 50 percent of the shares are owned by Mabetex and the entrepreneur Behgjet Pacolli, was announced on Friday as the winner of the competition for the construction and administration of Vlora Airport. A company based in London had also expressed interest in carrying out this work, but it was disqualified because it did not meet the required criteria.

Mr. Pacolli's Mabetex is in partnership with another Turkish company, Yda Group, which has a lot of experience in construction and operations at least three airports in Turkey, one in Kazakhstan and another in Ukraine. Yda Group has 48 percent of the shares in the consortium that won the right for Vlora airport, while 2 percent belong to the company from Kosovo 2A Group Shpk. The estimated value of the investment is almost 104 million euros.

"I am very happy for the sake of the truth that the basis of this consortium is a famous company, a company with fantastic works, a company that has the Albanian flag, the company of Behgjet Pacolli", said the Prime Minister Rama at the award ceremony. Within 30 days, the winning consortium will have to negotiate with the authorities the terms of the contract, in order to start the works which according to forecasts will last at least two years.

The Minister of Infrastructure, Belinda Baluku, said that Vlora Airport will be "the most important in the country". Unlike Mother Teresa International Airport, it will also provide opportunities for cargo aircraft flights and will have special aircraft maintenance hangars, another important sector of the aviation industry.

According to the initial project data, the airport will cover an area of ​​297 hectares. Of these 16,000 m2 will be the area of ​​the passenger terminal. Aircraft parking will be 46,690 m2 of which 32,000 m2 will be for aircraft positions (12 stops). 2000 m2 will be the area of ​​the fire service.

The runway will be 3200 meters long, while the airport category will be 4E, which means that it meets the conditions for large aircraft. The connecting roads will reach a total of 7263 meters of the category that supports runway operations.