Gasification of the city of Korça/Filo: Host country agreement to be signed in April

2025-02-13 08:21:00, Aktualitet CNA

The Mayor of Korça, Sotiraq Filo, hosted a meeting at this institution, representatives of the state gas company of Azerbaijan, together with the ambassador of this country. The meeting took place near the premises of the municipality where the progress of the Korça gasification project was discussed, a very important project as a very good alternative for heating at a much lower cost.

"It is a pleasure for me to receive today at the municipality premises, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan and the representative of the state gas company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, which is located in Tirana. So, SOCAR has opened its office in Albania. We discussed together the progress of the Korça gasification project, which is a very important project for us, both for families, who will have a very good and environmentally friendly alternative for heating, but also for businesses, who will have the opportunity to cover their costs of technological processes that use heating at a much lower cost than they have had the opportunity to have so far."

Sotiraq Filo indicates that the Albanian government and Prime Minister Rama himself are strongly committed to this project, while saying that two feasibility studies have currently been completed and the host country agreement is expected to be signed at the beginning of April.

"The project is very important for us, it is a project in which the Albanian government and Prime Minister Edi Rama himself are strongly committed. Currently, we are moving quickly, both feasibility studies have been completed, both the economic and technical of the project, and we expect that the host country agreement will be signed at the beginning of April. This is the technical term used, namely "Host Country Agreement", between the two governments, which will then pave the way for the start of the concrete implementation of the works."

Among other things, Filo says that he was informed by the ambassador and the company representative that on March 5 they will have an extended visit, where there will also be a public presentation of the progress of the project, a presentation that will be open to the media, authorities and citizens of Korça. The Mayor of Korça gives the good news that they are finalizing the entire pre-package phase, and hopes that the concrete implementation on the ground will begin as soon as possible, after March 5 and after the signing of the agreement that will pave the way for the works.

"I was informed by the ambassador and the SOCAR representative that on March 5, we will have an extended visit of the SOCAR management team, during which a public presentation of the project's progress will be made. This presentation will be open to the authorities, the media, civil society and the citizens of Korça. SOCAR, within the framework of corporate social responsibility, will also implement a social project, which we want to establish together. So, as you can see, we have concrete steps, we are finalizing the entire preliminary phase, which precedes such large infrastructure projects, and I hope that very soon we will also begin the concrete implementation of the works on the ground for the realization of this project. The next two steps, which have been set with dates, are: the visit of the high-level SOCAR management team on March 5 and the signing of the host country agreement at the beginning of April. With the signing of this agreement, the way is also opened for the start of the works."

The gasification of Korça is one of the largest projects to be implemented in the southeast, which is expected to reduce costs for Korça citizens but also for businesses that pay large amounts for heating between the technological processes they use. The high-level management team of the gas company in Azerbaijan will return to Korça on March 5, while the agreement between the two parties is expected to be signed in early April./ CNA