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"Every year the cost to taxpayers increases"/ Tirana Incinerator receives 1.4 billion lek in 2025, total reaches 92 million euros

2026-01-16 07:53:23, Ekonomi CNA

"Every year the cost to taxpayers increases"/ Tirana Incinerator

In 2025, Integrated Energy BV SPV, the company holding the PPP contract for the Tirana incinerator, is financially active with around 1.4 billion lek in payments from the state budget, according to Open Data, while the total public funds transferred so far has reached 9.1 billion lek, around 92 million euros.

The funds were allocated while the main object of the contract, the construction and operation of the incinerator, was not realized.

Officials from the Ministry of Finance have previously told Monitor that the payments are being made on the basis that the PPP contract has not been declared invalid and continues to be legally in force. Under these conditions, the ministry argues that it has an obligation to implement the contract and make the stipulated payments, despite the fact that its object has not been realized.

The payments are not directly related to the existence of the incinerator, but to the provision of what is called in the contract an “integrated waste management service”.

The contract for the construction of the incinerator has been reduced to the disposal of waste in a landfill, without the incineration process, without energy recovery, and without the technology that constitutes the core of the PPP project.

However, the contract is drafted in such a way that the state pays a fixed annual fee, which is not conditional on the completion of the investment. This means that the company benefits from public funds even in the absence of the plant, it is enough to declare that it is “ready” to provide the service.

In terms of public financial management, this contradicts the basic principle of efficiency and payment for results. The project risk, which in a normal PPP should be mainly borne by the private sector, has been transferred almost entirely to the state.

Every year that passes without termination or renegotiation of the contract, the cost to taxpayers increases, without any improvement in urban waste treatment.

Currently, the Tirana incinerator company is under seizure and is administered by the Agency for the Administration of Seized Assets.

At this stage, the Agency for the Administration of Sequestered and Confiscated Assets is not the owner of the assets it administers. It acts as a temporary custodian for assets that are under preventive seizure, that is, for assets that have not yet been confiscated by a final decision.

This means that, legally, the state does not consider these properties as its own, but simply as assets that must be preserved and not lose value until the end of the legal process.

In this context, Integrated's economic activity is allowed to continue and the revenues generated are not treated as budgetary revenues. They are recorded in the accounts of the seized company itself and are used for operating expenses, salaries, contractual obligations or are kept financially blocked pending a final decision. /Monitor