TIRANA, Oct. 17 – The Albanian government has cancelled a concession tender on the construction and operation of a big hydropower plant in the northern Drin River after no company submitted bids, including a Turkish joint venture that had been awarded a bonus for its unsolicited bid.
In an announcement published on the Public Procurement Agency, the Energy Ministry says it has decided to cancel the concession tender on the Katund i Ri hydropower plant, part of the bigger Skavica HPP project, after no bid was submitted within the deadline.
The cancellation comes after Turkey’s Suzer company had received an 8 point bonus for an unsolicited bid on the construction of a 57 MW HPP in the northern Dibra region under a 35-year build-operate-transfer concession contract, sparking protests by local residents over their evacuation and property inundation from the power plant’s construction.
The opposition Democratic Party had described the tender a mere formality, saying that the winner, Turkey’s Suzer company, has already been predetermined.
There has been no reaction by the Turkey’s Suzer Group which had formed a joint venture with Nurol Group over the reasons of their withdrawal at a time when they were apparent frontrunners in the race with a bonus advantage.
Suzer Group, a Turkish company that operates in several sectors and that was planning its first international energy project in Albania, planned to invest Euro 110 million on the 57 MW Katundi HPP in the next 30 months.
It is not known whether the company’s withdrawal is related to Turkish pressure on the Albanian government to dismantle institutions and companies linked to what it calls the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) allegedly run by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen whom it accused of masterminding the failed July 15-16 coup to topple Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Last September, Albania’s first-ever road concession project took a U-turn after the country’s public procurement watchdog invalidated a Turkish-led winning bid and proposed another bidder as the winner of 30-year concession contract to upgrade and manage a 114-km highway segment linking Albania to Kosovo, making it the country’s first toll road.
The Public Procurement Commission ruled the transport ministry’s bid evaluation commission must invalidate the bid by a Turkish consortium led by Vendeka Bilgi Teknolojileri Ltd and announce a United Arab Emirates-consortium led by Catalyst Viva Das General Contracting LLC which also included several Albanian partners as winner in a decision that will probably be challenged in court.
The change apparently came after Turkish authorities had officially complained to the Albanian government that the initial winner represented a Gulen-linked company.
Local inhabitants staged protests earlier this year fearing lack of compensation from the HPP project which is estimated to inundate 2,200 hectares and displace 1,460 people.
The initial early 1980s project affected 5,800 hectares and displaced about 10,000 people from the Dibra area.
The Skavica hydropower plant is an old project, first conceived in the 1980s during Albania’s communist rule and aimed at using the remaining space of Drini River. It has been considered a very strategic project for Albania as the plant could produce up to 1.2 billion kilowatt/hours per year, while also increasing the amount of electricity produced at the three other existing state-run hydro power plants on the Drin River.
Concession contracts to build hydropower plants in the Valbona and Vjosa rivers have sparked protests among local residents and environmentalists who fear the emerging tourism industry and the unique ecosystems will suffer a severe setback.
