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Hundreds of families in the open sky, the government does not spend 2/3 of the Reconstruction fund

Politiko 2023-12-07 09:08:29

Hundreds of families in the open sky, the government does not spend 2/3 of the

More than two-thirds of the fund programmed for 2023 for the Reconstruction program from the 2019 earthquake remained unspent until October of this year, effectively leaving very little time for the realization of programmed expenditures, it is reported by the monthly financial report of the Ministry of Finance, published recently. According to the report, out of 17 billion ALL programmed for reconstruction for 2023, only 5.4 billion ALL or 32% of the annual program has been spent by the end of October, while another 68% remains to be spent.

Albania was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 2019, which left 51 dead and around 1 billion euros in damage. The Albanian government has spent up to October of this year 80 billion ALL (about 800 million euros), while there are 11.6 billion ALL of unrealized expenses this year and plans another 9 billion ALL of expenses for the years 2024 and 2025 for a total of 100 billion ALL. .

The expenditure for the reconstruction program was carried out through emergency procurement procedures, which implies low competition and, therefore, high prices, but this was justified by the need to close the wounds caused by the earthquake as soon as possible. However, from the progress of this year's expenses, it seems that the emergency consisted of the procedures but not the implementation.

The Albanian government has stopped coverage from central government funds for subsidizing the rents of families left homeless by the 2019 earthquake, since March of this year, officially with the aim of "encouraging the completion of the process". According to the Ministry of Finance, the termination of central government funding for rents has been accompanied by a recommendation for municipalities to take measures to cover this expense from their own funds. At least one municipality, Durrës, has simply stopped payments, leaving about 2,500 families at the mercy of fate, whose houses are still waiting to be repaired.

/Reporter.al/

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