The incinerators that do not work and do not exist/ Here are the sums paid by the government in 10 years

2024-10-05 10:13:00, Denoncim CNA

The Albanian government has paid 129 million euros, according to official figures, for incinerators that will not work but also will not exist.

According to some official data recently provided by the economic magazine Monitor, the figures paid from the state budget are exactly what CNA, journalist Elvi Fundo and some experts have reported, in several years in a row, emphasizing that around 130 million euros have been paid .

Data from the Ministry of Finance show that from 2014 to 2023, the state budget allocated 24 million euros for the Elbasan incinerator, which was completed but is not working . Garbage in Elbasan is mountains, by the river of Shkumbin and burned in nature, causing environmental disasters just like before the financing of 24 million euros.

In Fier, 39 million euros were paid for the unfinished incinerator, but an investment of about 4 million euros is still needed. The entire investment is functioning as a landfill, not solving the waste problem in Fier county,

In Tirana, 65 million euros were paid from the state budget and the Municipality of Tirana , and the incinerator does not exist. The figures are official and not disputed by anyone.

The Albanian government has tried to pass without much noise the biggest corruption case in Albania since the fall of the communist system. Politicians, senior officials, media and many segments of society are involved in this affair.

The incinerators are the most debated concessions, due to the great abuses that are being found by the SPAK investigation, which has blocked all three contracts.

Tirana is the affair with the greatest damage and the most scandalous thefts where the opposition accuses the mayor Erion Veliaj as the actual owner and responsible for the corruption and thefts, who in fact was the initiator and main supporter of the affair.

The waste treatment concession in Elbasan ("Albtek Energy"), with a total cost of 5.3 billion ALL, with a processing capacity of about 120-140 tons/day, according to official statements in the contract, was suspended in March 2022 by SPAK .

The company had received all funding from the budget before it was blocked. In 2022 and 2023, funding was zero. In total, during the period 2017-2021, the company received 2.4 billion ALL from the state budget.

The waste treatment incinerator in Fier ("Integrated Technology Waste Treatment Fier"), with a total cost of 3.97 billion ALL and a processing capacity of about 180-200 tons/day, was suspended by SPAK in March 2022.

The incinerators that do not work and do not exist/ Here are the sums paid by

For 2022, the Ministry of Finance has paid 376 million ALL for this concession, or 45% less than the previous year. In 2023 there were no payments for this concession. In total, for the period 2017-2022, a total of 4 billion ALL were paid from the budget.

The third project is Waste Treatment in Tirana ("Integrated Energy BV sh.pk"), with a total cost of ALL 40 billion and a processing capacity of about 550-800 tons/day.

Even for this project, after a long process of investigations, the Special Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and Organized Crime in Tirana decided in August 2023 the property insurance measure "preventive seizure" on the company "Integrated Energy BVSPV" that owns the Tirana concession, and all other assets in the name of the company.

The charges are for the criminal offenses of "Fraud with serious consequences", in collaboration, "Abuse of office", "Passive corruption of high state officials or local elected officials", "Cleaning of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity" . , carried out in cooperation.

"Integrated Technology Services", which is implementing Tirana's incinerator projects, was also in the list of the 200 largest in 2023. The company has not submitted a balance sheet, but according to Tax data, it has declared income of 1.8 billion ALL, with a decrease of about 30% on an annual basis. In total, only from the state budget, in the period 2018-2023, the concessionaire received 6.5 billion ALL.

The beginning of the investigation for the three incinerators, that of Elbasan which worked for only one year and Fier which has been completed, (but has never been put into operation), and Tirana (whose construction has not started), rather pointed out for society than with incinerators, not only has the environmental situation of garbage in the country not improved, but also the budget costs are high.

From the investigation, SPAK has found numerous violations, starting with procedures for granting concessions and then with falsification of ownership documents, creation of fictitious companies, fictitious invoices and payment for works that were not performed.

Fictitious payment schemes have been used to cover and hide the true nature of the illegal origin of the funds, the true nature of their transfer and movement, and even fictitious invoices to increase expenses and reduce tax burden./CNA-Monitor