TAP gas pipeline project starts in Albania

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project, or TAP, has started investing in Albania's infrastructure to prepare for starting construction of the pipeline next year.

TAP said Friday it started construction and rehabilitation of some 100 kilometers (62 miles) of access roads and bridges along the pipeline's route in Albania, but gave no figures on the total investment there.

The project, an 870 kilometers (540 miles) long pipeline from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan across Turkey, Greece and Albania and undersea to Italy, plans to "safely deliver Caspian gas to Europe in early 2020," according to managing director Ian Bradshaw.

Prime Minister Edi Rama called it "one of the biggest investments in Albania's history."