DENUNCIATION/ PD lists violations for roads, concessions and PPPs

2024-01-15 11:27:00, Politikë CNA

DENUNCIATION/ PD lists violations for roads, concessions and PPPs

Loyal Dervish

The Head of the Department of Infrastructure in DP, Besnik Dervishi, in a media conference, accused the government of road, railway, maritime projects as well as PPP concessions.

According to him, the year 2023 for the field of infrastructure and transport was the year of failures and not achievements.

He emphasized that the Qukës-Qafë Pllocë project, started 13 years ago, is still an object that devours money from taxpayers, and it never ends.

Accusation from Dervish:

Timings of the Great Ring of Tirana, Qukes - Qafe Plloce Street)

- The north-eastern ring divided into 8 lots, except for one lot that can be completed on time, the others cannot be completed on time, continuing to have half a ring in Tirana and the non-functional one, with a suffocating traffic for the citizens.
- The Qukes-Qafe plloce project, started 13 years ago, is still an object that devours money from taxpayers, and it never ends.

- Very high costs for the construction of one km of road, compared to the same category of road in the region and in the EU, or with the contracts realized during the period 2005-2013, making additions to the account, with new financial costs.
- The big ring of Tirana, lot 3 (where 1 km cost 20 million euros), started in 2019, with a term of 24 months, not only does it still not have a completion date, but in April of this year they also awarded you 4.2 million other additional euros, to redo a project done wrong (not enough 20 million euros per km).

- The node of the former shchiponja square (lot 1) with a value so far over 45 million euros, realized with a non-functional project, replacing the first project (worth 20 million euros) with 3 levels in which the 2 main directions were foreseen uninterrupted by each other and now we have the entrance and exit to Tirana with traffic lights and a bottle neck.
Reason!!! To open the land for the construction of buildings on the sides of the main axis, from the municipality of Tirana, for its customers.

CONCESSIONS and PPPs

The concessions and PPPs carried out during the 11-year period have completely lost the purpose and function for which they were created, since they are not financed by private parties but by taxpayers, for which open procurement procedures should be developed, where competition is guaranteed, something that would bring saving of public funds. For this reason, they have resulted in:
- High costs, non-realization within the set deadline:
By not implementing the public procurement procedures in all PPPs, the winners have been predetermined by presenting only their offer, which fails several times and with higher (two to three times) than the inflated costs of the roads mentioned above.
The deadlines have been postponed several times, for years, in open contradiction with the terms of the contract.

A typical case is the PPP for Rruga e Arbri. This contract has a price of around 267 million euros, which included the completion of this turnkey road, which means approved and put into use. (There was a project by a foreign studio, which cost 160 million euros). For each year, funds have been added for works that were part of the basic contract. As well as a provisional by pass of around 37 million Euros. The completion of the road has been postponed several times. Today, its total value has gone over 400 million euros and it was put into use through a by-pass, which is beyond any parameters for a road of such a category and not well maintained.
- Failure to finance the projects on time and the delay in their realization, not only increases their cost, as a result of the increase in prices over the years and keeping the construction sites open, but also the loss of the effectiveness of the investment.
The concession of the Lekaj-Rrogozine-Fier road has not yet started, although its contract starts in spring 2023.
- Bad management and lack of supervision, Unfinished and untested commissioning, opening before the deadline for electoral effects, it has caused us to have a poor quality of the works, but not being completed with the proper signage according to the project, it has caused serious events (accidents resulting in loss of life).

Vlora By-Pass, Kardhiq-Delvine, Dukat-Orikum, all three of these projects have been put into use unfinished.

The government's promise to start work in 2024 for the expansion of the Tirana-Durre axis, with the first segment Tirana - the Rinas bend, (the project of which has been sleeping in the drawers of the Government for about 8 years and has cost the state budget 1.9 million euros), not only that there is no lek planned in the 2024 budget, but also that dividing it into lots does not at all serve open competition, cost reduction and realization within its deadline.

At the end of 2023, the Tirana-Durrës railway, which has been started for 3 years, should be completed. We remind you that only the tendering process lasted 5 years.
The operation of railway transport, which is the most important transport for goods and passengers, by diversifying land transport, would allow us to have transport with lower costs and pollution, but it would also significantly reduce road transport traffic
. According to the directives of the European Union, the railway should be part of the main corridors (10 such corridors) which are assisted and financed by the European Union itself. The Albanian part of the 8th Corridor, which connects the Black Sea with the Adriatic, through the ports of Durres and Vlora with highways and railways, has been neglected for years, making all traffic of goods destined for the port of Durres, divert to Thessaloniki, Igoumenice or Tivar.
This translates into very large financial losses for our economy. /CNA