“Berisha, affairs with the Serbian mafia”

An article published on the Kosovo daily newspaper “Zeri” says that for more than one year, Prime Minister Berisha has blocked the 400 KV project that connects Albania with Kosovo.

The blocking of this project has secured Serbia a monopoly in Kosovo’s energy market, as the only way to secure power supply.

The newspaper quotes that the Serbian businessmen, Vuk Hamovic, one of the richest people in Balkan and who operates in this business together with Damir Fazlic, have met in Vienna, Austria, with the Prime Minister’s son, Shkelzen Berisha.

 “The Serbian businessmen have paid high rank Albanian officials for blocking the construction of this power line”, Zeri sources have declared.

The tender for the Albania-Kosovo 400 KV power line construction was opened on March 2011. This project is financed by the German Bank for Construction and it would make Kosovo independent from the Serbian power lines.

“Zeri” writes that the companies that participated in the regular procedures of this tender were “Dalekovod” from Croatia and “Energo Invest” from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
“Dalekovod” is a very successful company that has successfully finalized the Elbasan-Podgorica power line, with a 400 KV capacity.

After the commission’s assessment, in which were present officials from the Transmission System Operator, the System Operator, the Transmission and Power Market operation in Kosovo and the German consulent, Intesh Gopa, the winner of the tender was declared the Croatian company Dalekovod.

According to Zeri, this project remained untouched after the appointment of the new director of Transmission System Operator, a former bodyguard of Sali Berisha and also former director of the Durres Customs, Arben Ibro.

Ibro has been instructed by Sali Berisha to block the project. This has concerned the German Bank for Development, which has expressed its concern on a letter sent to the Ministry of Finances on December 2011.

“We are concerned about the delays in the process that will grant the contract to the best offer for these two big energy projects. Although the final project reports have been sent weeks ago for both projects, TSO has not given a final decision and the negotiations for the agreements have been delayed, as result”, says the letter of the German Bank for Development director, Roland Siller.

Siller also asks the Albanian government to review the matter and guarantee that the process would not delay any longer. The German Bank directors have written to the Albanian government on 7 February 2012.

In this letter they have mentioned that the delays with the project will cause extra expenses, but according to Zeri, there has been no reply. The daily newspaper quotes its sources saying that the Albanian authorities have never answered to the German Bank for Development.

Some of the complaints have also come from the winning company, Dalekovod, from Croatia. In a letter sent to the TSO, the officials of this company say that there is nothing related with the project for which this company was declared winner, for more than 3 months and a half.

Naço: We postponed tender. Opposition: Delay favors Serbs

The Minister of Energy, Nasip Naco, admitted that the tender for the power line that connects Albania with Kosovo has been postponed, and he explains the reasons:

“The tender was made a few moths ago. The contracting authority was not ready to sign the agreement, thinking that the reference terms had problems. We discussed it at the Ministry of Economy and TSO, and a more qualified solution will be given in the days to come”, Minister Naco declared.

But the opposition says that the power line delay damages Albania’s and Kosovo’s interests, and it seems intentional for defending the interests of the Serbian business.

“We are obliged to think that when such a priority for Albania’s and Kosovo’s interest is blocked for more than one year, it must have corruptive intentions or favoring the parties that are not interested for Kosovo’s independence to be completed”, declared the Socialist MP, Artan Gaci.

KFW, which is the financing source of the project, has complained for postponements of the deadlines. The Minister of Economy admits that there has been an exchange of letters about this issue.

Nasip Naco, Minister of Energy, Trade and Economy:

Certainly that there has bee a correspondence about this. It is a contract that will be signed between the KFW and the OST. It is unbelievable that a contract that can be signed with an interview has some legal conditions that each party should respect. If it is a consistency, it will be approved. If not, no one ever violates the law because of the pressure coming from someone else.

Artan Gaçi, Socialist MP:

We will ask in Parliament for this intentional block to be removed, which has no explanation from the Albanian government. We will demand to have the Albanians’ interests as a priority, and not those of the Albanians.

The power line is considered as a very important project for Albania, because it secures an additional source for buying low cost energy, while Kosovo will be less dependent from Serbia.

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