Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will inaugurate a highway which is constructed by a Turkish-American consortium and will connect Albania to Kosovo, Turkey's state-run Anadolu agency said.

Completion of a tunnel under a 60 km (37 miles) stretch of road linking the Albanian coastal resort of Durres to the border with Kosovo will slash hours off travelling time for Kosovan holidaymakers heading for the sea.

Erdogan will join Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha to inaugurate the highway on June 25.

The 61-kilometer highway is constructed by a consortium of U.S. company Bechtel and Turkish construction firm Enka. It will lower the 6-hour travel time to 2 hours from Albanian city of Drac to Kosovo's border gate Morina.
Albania began considering building the road when the United Nations and NATO took control of Kosovo in 1999 after ousting the Serb forces of late war crimes suspct Slobodan Milosevic, but it was Berisha who pushed the project forward.

When the 160 km road is finally completed next year at a total cost of 1.1 billion euros ($1.557 bln) the trip of around six hours to Kosovo's border from the Albanian capital of Tirana will take just two hours.

In the past, Kosovars have had to face a gruelling eight-hour trip, often via Macedonia, to reach Albania's beaches.

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