Country Study & A Country Guide

Albania

TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Roads: Between 16,000 and 21,000 kilometers of road network suitable for motor traffic; 6,700 kilometers of main roads. In the mountainous north, communications still mostly by pack ponies or donkeys. Private cars not permitted until the second half of 1990; bicycles and mules widely used.

Railroads: Total of 543 kilometers, all single track, 509 kilometers in 1.435-meter standard gauge; thirty-four kilometers in narrow gauge. Work on the Yugoslav section of the fifty-kilometer line between Shkodër and Titograd was completed in late 1985; the line opened to freight traffic in September 1986.

Aviation: Scheduled flights from Rinas Airport, twentyeight kilometers from Tiranë to many major European cities. No regular internal air service.

Shipping: In 1986 Albania had twenty merchant ships, with a total displacement of about 56,000 gross tons. Main ports were Durrës, Vlorë, Sarandë and Shëngjin. Completion of the new port near Vlorë by early 1990s will allow a cargo-handling capacity of 4 million tons per year.

Data as of April 1992

Albania - TABLE OF CONTENTS