TIRANA, Government has postponed for another couple of years the use of privatization vouchers issued since the early 1990s after the collapse of the centrally planned economy to assist in the mass privatization programme in the early transition.
In a draft law awaiting approval by Parliament, the government says it will postpone the use of privatization vouchers, which have proved little efficient in the past two decades, until the end of 2016 allowing property owners expropriated under communism to participate in auctions of state assets. The vouchers can also be used in the process of legalization of informal buildings, a process which is underway after the completion of self-declaration.
Privatization vouchers were first introduced in the early 1990s just as the communist system was collapsing as shares to employees in state-owned enterprises.
Government says land owners will be given priority in the privatization process of state assets under management by central and local government units. A previous government decision allowed land owners to pay 20 percent for assets built on their land in cash and the remaining 80 percent in privatization bonds.
