Thousands of euros for a parking system, the thefts of the Municipality of Pogradec with corrupt tenders

In December 2022, the municipality of Pogradeci established the company Pogradeci Invest. This company has as its object the administration of condominiums in buildings, the realization of construction works, the construction and maintenance of public buildings, the maintenance of elevators in condominium buildings, the administration of parking lots in public spaces and the development of real estate for the purpose of sale.

At least that was the goal in its early days, because the rules changed along the way.  

On the website of the municipality, Pogradeci Invest is classified as an anonymous company, but in the CKB register, it is registered as a Limited Liability Company.

Also on the website of Pogradec municipality it is written that "Pogradeci invest sh.a is responsible for making possible the good management of spaces in the city and blocks of buildings. Near Pogradeci invest, you can get information and apply for a resident card for parking, or make complaints about co-ownership issues. Next to this sector, citizens or businesses that want to be equipped with a parking space can apply according to the relevant rules and the documentation that must be completed".

In short, two years since its establishment, Pogradeci Invest has two different forms of organization, and moreover, it has turned into a company that manages condominiums and parking spaces.  

But even though it has been operating for so long, the company has no published data on the decisions made by its administrator, or financial statements on income and expenses. The only public information that exists is that on the website of the municipality, which shows the address of the offices, the contact number and the number of employees, a total of 12 of them.

Data on the filing of the audited balance sheet and financial statements are also missing from the company's extract at the National Business Center. The situation becomes more suspicious, if we add the fact that the company does not have a management board or an administration council, where its leader would have to propose decisions and get approval. Decisions are made by only two people: the administrator Romeo Jaiçari and the mayor of Pogradec, Ilir Xhakolli.

But despite the lack of transparency and being a de facto private company, since its decisions are made by these two people, the company has started to make the first expenses, even in high values, several hundred thousand euros.

On August 14 of this year, Pogradeci Invest opened a tender to implement the paid parking system in the neighborhoods of Pogradeci. The defined limit fund was 309 thousand euros including VAT. All this amount will go to install 6 devices to make cash payments along with printers, 12 machines for imposing fines along with the corresponding printers and the integration of the parking system with messages and its connection with the official website of the state police and dpshtrr  

But according to the IT expert, Tomi Kallanxhi, based on the technical specifications of the tender, different companies can give different prices for the realization of the project, but in principle the figure for this tender is inflated. So this means that the price in this case depends on the company that provides the service. And in fact, there is already a winning company of this tender.

On October 17, 2024, the merger of the operators Alba Scan shpk and Woë digital shpk was announced as the winner with a value of 294 thousand euros or 95% of the limit fund. So, the winning company gave almost the same offer as it was designed in the tender documents of Pogradeci Invest. In addition to the winners, another operator participated in the competition, "Advanced Business Solutions - ABS" shpk, which actually did not present any economic offer. This makes you think that we are dealing with a predetermined winner here, but it doesn't end there. The winning company Alba Scan, and "Advanced Business Solutions - ABS", have been a union of operators in the famous 17 million euro tender for school laboratories and in the 6 million euro tender for prison security. But surprisingly, this time they faced each other in a much more modest tender.  

But let's return once again to the sum of this procurement procedure.  

From the data reported in the budget monitoring statistics of the Pogradec municipality, the income from parking fees does not exceed 50,000 euros per year. In 2023, the municipality planned to collect this figure again, but then reduced it to only 9 thousand euros. This means that if the income is only 10 thousand euros per year, the investment that will be made for the parking systems is returned after 30 years and if the income is 50 thousand euros, after 6 years. But the issue of return on investment is not the only problem.

Although Pogradeci Invest does not have any balance sheet or published data, the company itself has admitted in the tender documents that the amount for the installation of the systems will be spread over 3 years: 20% this year, 40% next year and 40% in 2026. The public company requests that the implementation of the contract be done within 6 months, but the payments will be spread over 3 years, being in open contradiction with the rules established by the Ministry of Finance for prevent the creation of arrears.

In relation to all of the above, the mayor of Pogradec told "Piranjat" that this investment will be paid with the revenues that will be collected from the parking lot and that the company Pogradeci Invest is financed by the municipality. In short, a parasitic company that is kept afloat by the taxes of the citizens. Meanwhile, the administrator Romeo Jaiçari told "Piranjat" that in order to pay off the large contract of almost 300 thousand euros, the parking workers will have to work over 14 hours a day and that during the summer months the parking fee in the city of Pogradec will grow. So, in the end, those who will suffer the consequences are the employees and citizens of the southeastern city. TV eye