Municipalities invest 56 million euros in roads in 10 months/Kryeson Kamza with 20% of the total

2024-01-03 12:36:00, Ekonomi CNA

Municipalities invest 56 million euros in roads in 10 months/Kryeson Kamza with

During the 10th month of 2023, municipalities throughout the country invested a total of 5.9 billion lek (56 million euros) in the road infrastructure of their territory according to the data of the Ministry of Finance, which this year for the first time made a report detailed information on local government investments.

Of the total investments, the Municipality of Kamza leads in terms of the size of the projects and the amount invested. Over 1.2 billion lek have been invested in this municipality in the 10th month of 2023, which is equivalent to 20 percent of the total investments of the entire local government in road infrastructure in this period. The biggest investment in this municipality was in the new pedestrian walkway and the lake of Paskuqan worth 112 million lek or about 1 million euros.

The Municipality of Tirana also invested a similar value to the Municipality of Kamza with about 1.2 billion ALL for the same period.

Other municipalities, although with larger populations and unmet infrastructure needs due to developing tourism, have invested much less in road infrastructure. For example, according to data from the Ministry of Finance (treasury data), the municipality of Durrës has invested in local road infrastructure only 155 million lek or a little more than 1.3 million euros, even though the city still needs to improve the coastal infrastructure.

Municipal investments for all functions, roads, transport, health, education, waste management, etc. are planned for a total of 38 billion ALL (360 million euros), but by October only 13.7 billion ALL or 36 percent had been realized of the annual plan. Of the 13.7 billion ALL invested in 10 months, 5.9 billion or 43 percent went to the construction and maintenance of road infrastructure.

The investment component presents high volatility depending on the contribution from conditional investment funds (including RDF). In contrast, the investments made with the municipalities' own funds, although increasing annually, recorded low values ??in the last two years.

In the last five years, investment funds from the central government (in the form of conditional funds, including funds from the RDF) have contributed to the increase of investments in the territories of the municipalities, their level still remains low compared to the long-term development vision. At the general government level, total capital spending represented about 5.4% of GDP in 2022, about 0.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

At the local level, capital expenditures made with own funds in 2022 represented about 0.6% of the nominal GDP, this ratio is the same as the previous year./ Monitor