FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
"Not a penny has been added to the Arbri Street contract from the state budget, we continue to this day and operate with the same amount of money as the contract was signed", this is the statement of the deputy. to the Prime Minister, Belinda Balluku on August 22, 2022.
Deputy Prime Minister Balluku promised that the expenses for the state budget for the Arbri Road will not increase even though the tunnel will be longer and that there will be road extensions. But after this promise, every economic expert was faced with a question: How is it possible that we will not pay additional costs for the road, when the private company will be extended and when the length of the tunnel will not be the same as the project approved??!
According to the engineer Spartak Tarka: "The more the project of completing a road is postponed, the more, the more difficult its completion becomes, as various problems arise, of a geological nature, add here also the natural conditions that subject to the track of the road."
Where are the violations of Belinda Balluk evident?
The show "Vetting" brings in this episode, some truths hidden by the number two of the government, at the same time the minister of the line, which are related to the affairs with Arbri Street, secrets that have brought additional costs both for the duration of the works and for the budget of the state - additions and budgets approved by Deputy Prime Minister Balluku herself. An unfinished project that also belongs to the area of its own political and electoral patronage.
At the center of this discovery by "Vetting" is the financial hole caused by this project, but there are also companies, which in a possible conflict of interest, have benefited from tenders from the Ministry of Infrastructure, for the supervision of the Arbri Street concession.
The ascending path of Balluk's career to the number 2 of the government and the financial shadows around it
In 2004, Belinda Balluku would join the staff of the Municipality of Tirana, with Edi Rama as mayor, in the role of advisor for Public Relations. With the arrival of Prime Minister Edi Rama in power, from September 2013 to December 2018, Belinda Balluku would hold the position of General Director of ALBCONTROL.
On January 17, 2019, Balluk's political power would grow exponentially, being appointed Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, and in April 2021, she would win the mandate as an MP of the Socialist Party.
The power of the minister would culminate at the beginning of August 2022, when Prime Minister Edi Rama would propose her as deputy. prime minister, taking over the Ministry of Reconstruction that was headed by her predecessor, now under investigation, Arben Ahmetaj.
During his time in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Balluku would sign some of the most important government concessions and projects. It would monitor and make payments for the incinerator contracts, which continue to be one of the biggest abuses of public funds.
But some of the projects approved by Minister Balluku have been at the center of accusations from the Albanian opposition as corrupt affairs, such as the case of the Port of Durrës. The concessions signed by Balluku himself have received attention from the increased costs and the cyclical extension of the deadlines for the Arbri Street works.
So at the center of investigations by SPAK is one of its closest collaborators, the head of ARRSH Evis Berberi, who was arrested by the Special Prosecutor's Office for corruption and money laundering.
Although the deadlines for the roads have been violated, the costs have increased for most of these projects, the number two of the government, Belinda Balluku, who is the de facto decision-maker, has been outside the attention of public denunciation. For unexplained reasons, the country's fragmented political opposition has also been divided in its attitudes towards the damage to the state budget by the ministry headed by Mrs. Balluku.
Concretely, Reestablishment, but also the Freedom Party, have not raised their voice about the endless costs of the roads, they have not even asked for an interpellation with this minister. While the financial feats for the unfinished roads mark record figures in the history of public budgeting for all the decades after the 1990s.
The only mirror that reveals the abusive face is the High State Control. The HSC reports, left out of the attention of the institutions or even the media, reveal the reasons for this silence. It is revealed there that Deputy Prime Minister Balluku has tolerated the implementation of the railway concession/PPP for the lines Fier - Ballsh and Fier - Vlorë.
The concession contract "For the granting of a concession for the rehabilitation, operation and transfer of the railway transport network on the lines Fier - Ballsh and Fier - Vlorë" was won by the merger of the companies "ALB-STAR" sh.pk & "MATRIX KONSTRUKSION" in September 2015 , which for the implementation of this project would co-found the concessionaire "ALBRAIL".
In February 2016, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure would conclude the contract with the company "ALBRAIL". But the conclusion of this contract has a background, since one of the shareholders of this company, A. L, turns out to be the son of the former deputy and vice-president of the Parliament of Albania at the time of the conclusion of the contract.
This case raises strong suspicions of a conflict of interest and the contract was signed by former minister Edmond Haxhinasto, co-founder of the former Socialist Movement for Integration, today the Freedom Party, where he is its vice-chairman.
KLSH argumenton se Ministria e Infrastrukturës, në kohën që drejtohet nga Balluku, nuk ka dërguar në Ministrinë e Financave pasqyrat financiare vjetore të vitit paraardhës për aktivitetin e koncesionarit. Gjithashtu audituesit konfirmojnë se nuk ka patur raportime për ecurinë e zbatimit të kësaj kontrate, duke qenë në kundërshtim me përcaktimet në Udhëzimin e Ministrit të Financave dhe Ekonomisë nr.35, datë 12.12.2019.
Përtej dritëhijeve për realizimin e punimeve, vetë ideja për projektimin dhe nisjen e garës për projektin e “Dhënie me Koncesion/PPP i ” Përmirësimit, Ndërtimit, Operimit dhe Mirëmbajtjes së Rrugës së Arbrit” ka prapaskena të tjera.
Ndërtimi i aksit me gjatësi 54 kilometra që lidh Tiranën me Dibrën nëpërmjet kontratës koncesionare me kompaninë ‘Gjoka Konstruksion’, filloi në vitin 2018. Ky projekt parashikon ndërtimin e një rruge me dy korsi, e cila kalon në një rrugë me gjashtë tunele dhe dy ura të larta.
Më 12 Prill 2017, Qeveria Shqiptare do të miratonte një bonus prej 10 pikësh për kompaninë “Gjoka Konstruksion” për propozimin e pakërkuar për Rrugën e Arbrit.
Më 31 tetor 2017, Ministria e Infrastrukturës dhe Energjisë, nën drejtimin e Damian Gjiknurit, do të shpallte fitues “Gjoka Konstruksion” me ofertë 40 miliardë lekë me TVSH ose 400 milionë euro, e cila krijoi kompaninë “Gjoka 87” për koncesionarin.
Por çfarë e lidh Ballukun me këtë projekt?
Konfliktet e mundshme të interesit
Paralelisht me lidhjen e kontratës koncesionare për Rrugën e Arbrit, në nëntor 2018, do të shpallej edhe fituesi nga Ministria e Infrastrukturës për shërbimet inxhinierike të pavarura për zbatimin e kësaj kontrate.
Ky tender u fitua nga bashkimi i kompanive “GR ALBANIA” dhe “GAUFF GmbH & Co Engineering” me ofertë 535 milionë lekë me TVSH ose 5.4 milionë euro.
Nga të dhënat zyrtare rezulton se në vitin 2022 është bërë shtesë për këtë kontratë. Por vazhdimi i kontratës me “GR ALBANIA” ngre pikëpyetje për konflikte interesi nga kjo kompani. Në 20 shtator 2017, bashkimi i kompanive “Alb- Star”, “AGNA SHA” dhe “GR ALBANIA” do të themelonin kompaninë “GRABOVA HYDROPOWER”, pasi sapo kishin fituar kontratën koncesionare për ndërtimin, operimin dhe transferimin e Hidrocentralit Grabovë 1 nga Ministria e Infrastrukturës dhe Energjisë.
Megjithatë në vitin 2021, ekuilibrat brenda kompanisë koncesionare “GRABOVA HYDROPOWER” do të ndryshonin.
Në 5 Prill 2021, “Gjoka Konstruksion” do të blinte 34% të aksioneve nga kompania “Alb-Star” për kontratën e hidrocentralit me afat përdorimi 35 vite.
Pra, zyrtarisht prej prillit 2021, kompania “GR ALBANIA”, e cila supervizon punimet e kompanisë “Gjoka Konstruksion” për Rrugën e Arbrit është në ortakëri me këtë të fundit. Madje merr një shtesë prej 558 milionë lekësh (të vjetra) nga Ministria e Infrastrukturës për të mbikëqyrur punimet e kompanisë, me të cilën po ndërton një hidrocentral.
Sipas ekspertit të ekonomisë, Eduart Gjokutaj, institucionet duhet të jenë më të vëmendshme ndaj këtyre rasteve.
"Actually, it is a problem of those who organize this whole competition, tenders with public money that are given to enterprises. Naturally, it is also an institutional weakness in cases of non-initial or preliminary verification and, on the other hand, the investigation when there is no compatibility of the funds with the investment" , declares Gjokutaj for "Vetting".
Suspicions of violation of tender procedures fall on the Ministry of Infrastructure because every time the shares of a concession contract are transferred, the companies have an obligation to notify the Ministry of the changes that have occurred.
But this tender is not the only one that raises questions about conflicts of interest./ BW
Lini një Përgjigje