The transport sector in Albania continues to face a series of structural challenges that significantly limit the country's economic development, trade, and tourism potential.

The World Bank report emphasizes that although public spending on transport infrastructure is among the highest in the region as a share of the budget: around 7.5 percent of total spending, with nearly 80 percent dedicated to roads, the problems accumulated over the years show that investments have not been accompanied by sustainable efficiency and sufficient quality of service.

The 15-kilometer road network carries 98 percent of domestic passenger traffic, but large parts of it remain dilapidated, especially rural roads and regional links, which suffer from poor maintenance standards, a lack of modern safety parameters, and insufficient connectivity between economic zones. This situation penalizes not only the movement of people and goods, but also trade competitiveness and tourism flows, which depend on a functional and sustainable infrastructure.

According to the report, the strong growth in the number of vehicles, over 114 percent in the decade 2013–2023, has exerted great pressure on existing roads and significantly worsened urban pollution, due to the aging fleet, where about 90 percent of vehicles are older than 10 years.

Heavy traffic, noise, high fuel consumption and harmful emissions place Albania among the countries with serious environmental challenges in the transport sector. In addition to roads, the railway infrastructure represents another weak point. Over 70 percent of the lines are in a degraded state, limiting the speed, quality of service and regional integration of the country. Meanwhile, maritime transport, which processes almost 55 percent of the volume of goods, needs continuous modernization to adapt to growing trade flows and the demands of the modern economy.

These infrastructure challenges are compounded by high climate vulnerability. Frequent floods along key corridors, such as Tirana–Durres and Durres–Vlora, cause annual losses of around $15 million, while damage to bridges and dams results in more than another $20 million per year.

Transport is also the second largest emitting sector in the country, contributing around 22 percent of total emissions, which places it at the center of Albania’s green transition challenges. In international assessments of infrastructure quality, the country ranks low, both in the quality of roads and energy, as well as in logistics indicators, reflecting gaps accumulated over the years.

The report highlights that Albania can achieve significantly higher results from the current level of spending, if investments are targeted and managed more efficiently. The World Bank estimates that optimizing existing investments could improve the Infrastructure score by 18.6 percent, bringing the country closer to CEE8 levels, and the quality of roads by about 29 percentage points. Increasing the efficiency of public capital would contribute 0.1 percentage point to GDP per capita growth in the period 2026–2050, significantly improving long-term economic development.

In this context, the World Bank report highlights several key recommendations. In the short term, it suggests creating a dedicated budget for the maintenance of bridges and road structures, strengthening institutions and safety standards, increasing transparency and control over used vehicle imports, and maintaining high taxes on fossil fuels.

In the longer term, it is required to mobilize private investment for railways, promote green urban mobility, and build a clear framework for charging infrastructure and reduce dependence on vehicles.

According to the report, only such a combination of sustainable policies, efficient investments and institutional reforms can transform the transport sector into a real engine of development for the Albanian economy./ ekofin.al