2023/ 12 large municipalities invested 160 million euros, the North is "discriminated against"

2024-05-07 07:41:00, Ekonomi CNA

2023/ 12 large municipalities invested 160 million euros, the North is

The municipalities of the Northern Region of the country are poorer compared to the South and the Center, but instead of being favored with funding, they are discriminated further, both from the central budget and from the allocation of local budgets.

Data from the Ministry of Finance show that in 2023, a total of 16.6 billion ALL (own funds + transfer from the central budget) was invested in the 12 large municipalities of the country, which represent the centers of the prefectures, from 31.6 billion ALL of planned.

From the invested sum of 16.6 billion lek (158 million euros) in the 12 big municipalities, only 986 million lek or 9.3 million euros were invested in the municipalities of the North (Lezhë, Dibër, Shkodër and Kukës).

This amount represents only 5.9% of the total funds that were invested last year by the 12 municipalities. From the investment program in the 12 large municipalities for 2023 (31.6 billion ALL), only 4.8% of the funds were planned to be invested in the 4 municipalities of the North.

More detailed data show that the municipalities of the North had a better realization of funds in relation to the program compared to other municipalities.

In total, the 12 large municipalities realized only 52% of the investment program in 2023, while the Northern municipalities realized 64% of the program.

The municipalities of Shkodra and Kukës are presented with the highest realization of the item of capital investments, respectively with 86% and 82% each.

Of the investments made in the 12 large municipalities, half of the funds were invested in the largest Municipality of the country, that of Tirana, which allocated only 45% of the investment program by 2023. The Municipality of Durrës ranked second with 3.3 billion ALL investments, with a realization of 58.3%.

Of the 12 largest municipalities, that of Elbasan had the weakest implementation of the investment fund with only 30% of the program, Korça with 43.7% of the program and Tirana with 45% of the program.

Post-earthquake reconstruction had the largest municipal investment projects in 2023. The largest project was the reconstruction and repair of individual housing in the Municipality of Durres with a realized value of 1.98 billion ALL in 2023 out of 3.5 billion ALL programmed in this voice.

The second largest project was the reconstruction of individual housing in the Municipality of Tirana with a value of 1.29 billion alleks out of 1.46 billion alleks that were in the program.

The third largest project was the reconstruction of educational facilities in Kamze Municipality with 927 million ALL. The fourth in terms of value is the reconstruction of individual homes in Kavaja worth 636 million ALL./ Monitor magazine

2023/ 12 large municipalities invested 160 million euros, the North is