A Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Tirana-Durres Railway in Albania

This executive summary presents a Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) of the proposed rehabilitation of the Tirana-Durres railway in Albania and the creation of a new connection to Rinas International Airport. The assessment compares a scenario of railway improvement against a baseline of no action, concluding that while the project is not economically viable based on traditional financial metrics, it provides substantial societal, environmental, and economic benefits over a 30-year period.

• The Tirana-Durres railway project, spanning 34 km with an estimated total cost of EUR 58.78 million, aims to reduce CO2 emissions and pollution by shifting transport from roads to rail. The project is designed to address an outdated network that has lacked adequate investment or maintenance for 25 years.
• A SAVi assessment for the period 2023 to 2053 indicates that the railway scenario generates a cumulative undiscounted net benefit of EUR 415.51 million, which becomes EUR 270.34 million when discounted at 3.5%.
• The most significant monetary benefit is the avoidance of vehicle operating costs (fuel and maintenance), valued at EUR 96.78 million. Other quantified benefits include health benefits from reduced air pollution and increased physical activity (EUR 44.93 million), time savings from reduced congestion (EUR 44.39 million), avoided traffic accident costs (EUR 41.61 million), and income from new railway employment (EUR 38.41 million).
• There is a stark contrast between traditional and sustainable valuation metrics for the project. The conventional benefit-cost ratio (BCR), which only accounts for tangible impacts like capital costs and revenues, is 0.12, suggesting the project is not economically viable. However, the sustainable BCR (S-BCR), which incorporates social and environmental externalities, is significantly higher at 4.25 (though Table 1 lists the S-BCR as 4.79).

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). A Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Tirana-Durres Railway in Albania. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-02/savi-tirana-durres-railway-albania-summary.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. A Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Tirana-Durres Railway in Albania. n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-02/savi-tirana-durres-railway-albania-summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=A Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Tirana-Durres Railway in Albania |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-02/savi-tirana-durres-railway-albania-summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndsustainable, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{A Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Tirana-Durres Railway in Albania}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-02/savi-tirana-durres-railway-albania-summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }