Findings from the Albanian Supreme Audit Office: The Municipality of Saranda has caused millions of lek in damage to the state budget from problematic tenders

2025-07-08 15:47:00, Politikë CNA

Findings from the Albanian Supreme Audit Office: The Municipality of Saranda has

The Supreme State Audit Office has completed an in-depth audit of the public procurement procedures followed by the Municipality of Saranda, revealing a series of serious violations and irregularities.

According to the latest published report, 12 procedures were selectively audited, of which 10 were carried out during 2023 with a limit fund of 219,021,663 lek and 2 procedures initiated in 2022 and completed in 2023, with a limit fund of 59,166,666 lek.

According to the report, the procurements were carried out in violation of the law, with deficiencies in the technical documentation, irregularities in the selection of economic operators and significant problems in the implementation of contracts. These violations have brought direct financial consequences for the budget of the Municipality of Saranda and have seriously violated the principles of transparency and competition in the use of public funds.

More specifically, in the procedure of the “Urban waste cleaning and disposal service for the Municipality of Saranda” of 2023, the audit has resulted in the fact that the administrative cost item of 5% should not have been included in the price calculation, since in this case it turns out that the costs for infrastructural support have been included twice. The audit has also revealed problems with the implementation of the contract, where the approval document on the chemical cleaning products is missing either from the health authorities or from the contracting authority itself. Despite this, payments for washing and disinfection have continued, and the operator has even invoiced services of 1,080,488.2 lek excluding VAT before the date of conclusion of the contract, i.e. when the contract was not in force.

In the tender "Requalification of internal roads with asphalt in Gjashtë, Saranda" worth 7,916,666 lekë excluding VAT, it is required that the economic operator must include 1 welder in its staff, with the argument that this employee is needed to guarantee the fulfillment of the work items. The audit results that in the estimate of the work items no activity or materials related to welding are found.

Likewise, in the tender for the water supply in "Baba Rexhepi" and Lugu i Dardhës worth 378.8 million lekë, the procedure resulted in the absence of complete technical documentation for guarantees and approval, resulting in economic damage to the state budget and local unit in the amount of 1,871,980 lekë excluding VAT.

Road rehabilitation in Metoq, Berdenesh, Çukë, Manastir, worth 6,666,666 lek excluding VAT, discrepancies were observed in the volume of completed and liquidated works. For this investment, it resulted that the works contractor was overly liquidated by 1,257,520 lek excluding VAT for unfinished works.

The tender for the reconstruction of the "Adem Sheme" school, worth around 80 million lek, resulted in unfinished works, payments made on incorrect situations, resulting in economic damage in the amount of 4,608,563.36 lek excluding VAT.

The report also shows that in the procedure "Requalification and paving of the Ksamil road network" the winning operator does not meet the established criteria and the operator who met them was disqualified, causing a negative financial effect on the budget of the Municipality of Saranda for 1,528,705 lek excluding VAT, resulting from the difference between the declared winning bid of 15,001,855 lek and the bid of and the unduly disqualified bid of the other operator of 13,473,150 lek excluding VAT.

In conclusion, the SAI audit notes that the administration of public funds by the Municipality of Saranda within the framework of procurement has been deficient and often in violation of the legal framework in force.

The violations found, from the unfair inclusion of costs, lack of documentation, to payments for unfinished work and the unfair selection of operators, have produced considerable economic damage and point to the urgent need to strengthen internal control and increase institutional accountability in the management of public funds at the local level./ Ekofin.al