A new six-kilometer tunnel, the Llogara Tunnel, situated on a road running along Albania's Ionian coast, has opened for traffic, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Friday.

The Llogara Tunnel is expected to positively impact traffic in the southern part of the country, while also supporting economic development in the area, Rama said in a social media post.

The construction of the tunnel, funded by the state budget, is estimated at Euro 142 million (Dollar 153.64 million), the infrastructure ministry has said.

To cover its high maintenance costs, Albania plans to introduce a road toll in 2025, infrastructure minister Belinda Balluku said in an interview with local news provider Top Channel on Thursday.

The tunnel road, which traverses the Ceraunian mountain range, provides a link to popular tourist villages Drimadhe and Palase.

The project also includes a 6-km parallel emergency escape tunnel of the same cross-section as the main tube. The adjoining roadway includes two reinforced earth embankments at the southern access. The tunnel will have a maximum overburden of approximately 900 meters.

During the summer months, the tunnel will be accessible free of charge. Payment for the tunnel will continue after 2025 when the tunnel will be fully delivered. Prime Minister Rama was also accompanied by the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda, the Minister of Tourism Mirela Kumbaro, and other socialist officials.

"The opening of the longest tunnel in Albania, a long-standing dream and stale promise of all parties' electoral campaigns, which today becomes the reality of daily life in one of the most spectacular areas of our homeland, as well as a motor new with a lot of horsepower for the new tourism industry, to which at the end of the year will be added the powerful engine of the international airport of Vlora,” Rama said in a post on Facebook.

The works for the construction of the tunnel started on November 15, 2021, after the tender competition held which was won by a Turkish consortium consisting of two companies.

The contract for the construction of this work has a duration of 36 months, which also coincides with the completion of all the works that have not been completed at present, although the work is accessible to vehicles.

According to estimates, the Llogara Tunnel will shorten the access time of the south of the country by about 45 minutes. It starts from the Saint Eliza Bridge and ends at the Palasa Bridge, while it is part of the Orikum - Himara road section, part of the Vlora - Saranda Highway.