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How the reconstruction tenders were conducted with a restricted procedure. Suspicions of clientelism and corruption

How the reconstruction tenders were conducted with a restricted procedure.

The November 2019 earthquake was a double disaster that hit Albania. In addition to the fact that many people lost their homes, even today many of them are on rent bonuses or without bonuses over 5 years after the earthquake, while the institutions involved allocated hundreds of millions of euros of funds to companies that did not implement contracts, but also did not meet the criteria to win tenders.

According to the executive director of the Albanian Center for Economic Research, Zef Preci, the problems with procurement reflect the lack of expertise and capacities of a large number of state agencies that carry out procurement and the increasing influence and sophistication of corruption as a crime in the procurement process.

According to the report from the European Commission, despite ongoing training and assistance to improve public investment management, institutional reforms such as the unification of the selection and approval process for public investment projects were not implemented.

As a result, some areas of public investment, including reconstruction funds, are not subject to the usual evaluation criteria and procurement rules. This process has even been plagued by problems with transparency.

According to the organization Open Data Albania, the contracting for the Reconstruction tenders is being done in circumvention of the law through the Normative Act Law 97/2019, which entered into force as an emergency measure for natural disasters by the government. Through these legal procedures, the Albanian government awarded tenders with a restricted procedure, but at the same time limited competition and, according to Open Data, created the conditions for clientelism and corruption.

According to a December 2024 study by Open Data Albania, it is noted that the state budget appears to have aimed to influence voters and extract electoral benefits for the majority in parliament. BW

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