FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Almost every day the Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku and the director of the Albanian Road Authority Evis Berberi are publicly declaring in the media and parliamentary committees, where the budget is discussed, that the expansion of the road will start next year. But in the draft budget of 2024, that the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Parliament, not a penny has been allocated for this investment.
The expansion of the Tirana-Durres road has caused a strong clash within the government between the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Finance. Almost every day, the Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku and the director of the Albanian Road Authority Evis Berberi are publicly declaring in the media and parliamentary committees, where the budget is discussed, that the expansion of the road will start next year.
But in the draft budget of 2024, which the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Parliament, not a penny has been allocated for this investment.
The public statements of Balluk and Berber and the emphasis on the Tirana Durrës road expansion project seem to be part of a coordinated campaign to pressure the Ministry of Finance, but also the Parliament to change the draft budget to allocate funds for this investment. But so far there appears to be no sign of the budget bill changing.
Road widening
The project for the expansion of the Tirana Durrës road with 4 additional lanes was made in 2016. The tender announced by ARRSH for the design was won by the Italian company SPEA.
According to the project and the updated estimate of prices, the cost of widening the road with the largest traffic in Albania is estimated at 205 million euros.
Last year, this investment was included in the Unique List of Projects of National Importance, a prerequisite for a large public investment to be budgeted. But according to VKM, which regulates public investment management procedures, any project worth more than 10 billion lek (95 million euros) must be submitted to external opposition for the feasibility study.
This opposition must be carried out by a private company, the selection of which VKM entrusts to the Ministry of Finance. This point in the decision was imposed on the government by the European Commission and the World Bank to avoid the tragedy that happened in Albania with the fragmentation of public investments, especially roads into endless lots, and their extension for years, increasing the cost to taxpayers.
Here is the impasse that has brought the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Infrastructure into trouble for the expansion of the Tirana-Durres road.
The Ministry of Finance has not yet done the external opposition of the feasibility study of the Tirana-Durres road and under these conditions the investment cannot be budgeted. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Infrastructure insistently demands that the expansion of the road begin next year.
The fight to bypass VKM
In order to avoid the restriction imposed by VKM that regulates the management of public investments, the Ministry of Infrastructure is trying two ways. First, that of dividing the road with tears.
MIE's plan envisages the tendering of the first two lots for next year from Sheshi Shqiponja to the vicinity of Kashari with a total value of 4 billion ALL. Consequently, the Ministry of Infrastructure seeks to budget at least 800 million Lek or about 7.6 million euros for the next year, according to the condition established in the law that at least 20 percent of the value of the investments must be budgeted in the first year.
But VKM sanctions 20 percent of the full value of the project, ie 20 percent of 205 million euros, which means that the road cannot start without at least 41 million euros being allocated in the first year.
Meanwhile, the second way that the Ministry of Infrastructure is tending to bypass the legal limitation that makes road budgeting impossible is that of changing the Decision of the Council of Ministers by dropping the point that requires external opposition for projects worth over 95 million euros.
Belinda Balluku is fighting hard to overthrow the restrictions as shown by her daily statements about the launch of the Tirana-Durres road next year. But so far, these statements remain mere wishes, since there is not a single penny allocated for this road in the budget.
It now remains to be seen if the most powerful minister of the government will manage to topple the fortress of law, which makes it impossible to start the Tirana-Durres road next year, or if her statements will remain simply a failed attempt to put pressure on the Ministry of Finance and an unrealized wish./ Capital
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