FLASH
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The tender for the construction of the new commercial port in Porto Romano has been cancelled after the only company in the competition did not submit a financial offer. While the project of around 400 million euros remains on paper, around 13.8 million euros have already been spent from the state budget on the design alone, while a consultancy contract was awarded without competition and without transparency about the financial value...
After debates and accusations, Edi Rama made a surprise move today, canceling the tender for Porto Romano. But as SPAK has launched investigations and internationals have expressed much criticism, the government's justification has been that foreign interests have come into play. The Russian thesis was even thrown out in public.
" We have withdrawn the bidder for economic reasons because there is an increase in cost. The Commission will continue with the procedures, but I want to recall the fact that the Prime Minister spoke about this project, saying that there are actors who are trying to stop this project ," the Minister of Transport said today.
But this thesis is a mask, as the government initially withdrew due to pressure from the US and Germany. Both of these countries were unhappy with the project and there were many clashes.
The second element is SPAK. The prosecution has seized the tender documents and in fact, the port that exists only on paper has swallowed millions. Perhaps Babloku realized that that tender would open up a lot of trouble with the justice system and withdrew.
Chronology
The procedure for the construction of the port, worth around 400 million euros, was cancelled after the only remaining company in the competition, Archirodon Construction, failed to submit its financial offer within the set deadline. This is the second tender failure for this project, as the first competition announced in 2024 was also cancelled due to no bids being submitted.
However, while the construction of the port still remains on paper, the process has already generated significant expenses from the state budget.
The first financial step for this project was taken in September 2022, when the government announced the tender for the drafting of the detailed technical project of the new commercial port in Porto Romano. According to data from “Open Data Albania”, the limit fund for this procedure was 1.36 billion lek, about 13.8 million euros, and the financing was covered by the institution's own funds. During the procurement process, 14 economic operators participated, but in the end 9 of them were disqualified and a consortium of international and domestic companies, headed by HaskoningDHV Nederland BV, was declared the winner.
The design tender was also accompanied by an increase in the initial fund by about 20 percent, according to a decision published in the 2022 Public Procurement Bulletin, while the procedure was marked with a "red flag" for competition risk.
But design is not the only expense for a project that has already recorded two failed tenders for construction.
In June 2024, the government approved a decision authorizing the Durrës Port Authority to directly negotiate a consultancy contract with the international company Royal Haskoning DHV. This agreement aimed to assist Albanian institutions in the process of bidding, contracting, construction and supervision of the new port in Porto Romano.
However, unlike the design tender, no financial value has been made public for this consultancy contract, and it is not known whether the agreement provides for liability for the consultant in the event that the tender procedures fail.
At the same time, the tender for the construction of the port, with a limit fund of 39.3 billion lek, has been announced twice and canceled twice. The last procedure was re-announced in December 2024 and lasted about 15 months. Some of the largest international port construction companies participated in the competition, but after the pre-qualification phase, only two companies remained, while in the end only one bidder continued in the procedure.
After the withdrawal of this operator and the lack of a financial offer, the tender was canceled for the second time.
At this point, the project for the new port of Durres in Porto Romano is in an ambiguous situation. Although it is considered a strategic project for economic development and for Corridor VIII, so far it has produced more failed procedures and preliminary expenses than concrete works on the ground. /Pamphlet
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