The Albania-Kosovo powerline scandal

The tender was held on March, resulting with the Croatian “Dalekovod” as winner. But the Albanian government blocked the construction, saying that the price was 8 million EUR higher than the offer.

The government tried to replace the winner for signing an agreement with the Bosnian “Energoinvest”, which was blocked by the KFW. The German Bank has no answer about what will the Albanian government do for this problem, and they have sent another letter to the Director of the Transmission System Operator, Arben Ibro, and the Minister of Finances, Ridvan Bode, urging them to take a final decision if they will accept the winner or not. KFW reminds the Albanian government that the tender was transparent and in full accordance with the rules of the TSO, the Kosovo TSO and the Bank itself.

“We would like to underline the fact that if the Albanian government will decide to hold the tender again, the cost will be higher from the first tender”, says the second letter that the German Bank leaders sent to the Minister of Finances and the TSO Director.

The Bank reminds the government that if their only option is to repeat the tender, they will accept the cancellation of the first tender under some conditions. The first condition is that the cancellation of the tender should be made by both parties, the Albanian TSO and the Kosovo TSO, with the respective explanations. The Kosovo TSO considered the tender as regular, by accepting its result, which could cause endless delays for the construction.

The second condition asked by the KFW is that both operators should agree for the method that they will use for assessing the cost of the new tender. Another condition is to keep the technical standards unchanged.

“KFW cannot come down to compromises and allow lower technical standards”, the letter says.

The last condition is related with the guarantees that the Bank asks from the Albanian government, saying that they will not block a second possible tender.

“We want an official declaration from the Albanian part, represented by the Ministry of Finances and TSO, in which they accept that the tender process will be held according to the KFW standards and will be accepted by the TSO, besides the cost of the winner”.

This declaration is necessary before reopening the procedures for a second tender, according to the letter that the German Bank leaders sent to the Albanian part. These preconditions, according to the letter, have been presented to Prime Minister Sali Berisha by the German Ambassador to Albania on May 7th 2012. The Bank encourages the TSO and the Ministry of Finances to take a final decision in order to continue the close cooperation.

The Socialist MP, Artan Gaci, decalred that the new tender will favor the Serbian Monopolies.

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