Flash News

'Bankers' tax evasion, Chinese CEO and former director jailed

Two cars collide on the Saranda-Delvina axis, 4 injured

Bomb alert, Police remove MPs and media from Kosovo Parliament building

"The will of the people" and the irony of ordered resignations

Vote recount in Durrës ends without changes

E-TJERA

BIRN: The government fails to withdraw bids in the tender for the new port of Durrës, no interested investors

Politiko 2024-10-14 16:00:53

BIRN: The government fails to withdraw bids in the tender for the new port of

The nearly €400 million tender aimed at finding contractors to carry out the first phase of a controversial government project aimed at privatizing the existing port and building a new one with taxpayer funds has failed to attract bidders, it is known by the Public Procurement Agency.

The tender entitled: New Integrated Commercial Port of Durrës in Porto Romano - Phase I, with a limited fund of 39.3 billion ALL and which is planned to be financed by the changes with an accelerated procedure in the law of the state budget, was intended to carry out the works for a new publicly owned and taxpayer funded port to be developed in the Porto Romano area north of Durrës. The reason for the construction of this port is that the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama, through direct and secret negotiation procedures with a private party, has decided to privatize the existing port without compensation and allow the private company to use the piers and the existing territories of the port to build palaces.

Consequently, because Durrës is the only efficient port in Albania and processes over 96% of the goods that are imported or exported by sea in the country, Albania needs to build a new port. The government's initial plans to build the port under concession failed to attract potential investors, prompting the government to undertake taxpayer-funded construction of the new port.

The tender for the first phase was called with a limited procedure, where a number of operators selected by the government were invited to participate and Prime Minister Edi Rama himself appeared publicly at the opening of the tender to promote the project. But recently, the proceedings were canceled with the note: "no relevant request has been submitted in the phased proceedings."

The privatization project to build buildings in the Port of Durrës has surprised many experts on the decision-making unpredictability. Plans for the construction of buildings do not seem to be going according to plan anyway. A controversial point in the concession contract with entrepreneurs Eagle Hills Real Estate Development, Albanian Seaports Development Company, sh.a. and Nshmi Development LLC, which offered an Albanian passport to any foreigner who bought an apartment there, faced opposition from the European Union, while now, the failure of plans to build a new port makes it impossible to close the existing port./Reporter .co.uk

Latest news