Albania-Kosovo interconnection line back on track

TIRANA, Sept. 24 – The Albania-Kosovo interconnection line will soon be a reality and previous problems which led to the delay of the tender will no longer be repeated, new Energy and Industry minister Damian Gjiknuri has told German ambassador to Albania Hellmut Hoffmann.
Meanwhile, the German ambassador to Albania says the project is now back on track despite problems following the cancellation of the tender by the Albanian government earlier this year.
“Unfortunately there were some difficulties which caused delays but now the second tender has already been held, the bids have been submitted and I think works on the construction of this interconnection line which is of vital importance for the Albanian energy sector will kick off by the end of the year,” Hoffmann told reporters.
After cancelling the initial tender on the construction of the Albania-Kosovo interconnection line, the Albanian government announced a new tender on the German-funded project which includes only the Albanian segment from Tirana to the border with Kosovo in Morina. Bids were delivered to Bad Homburg, Germany in late May 2013.
A 400 kW transmission line shall be installed between the 400/230/110 kW substation Tirana 2, which is in operation and the border with Kosovo at Morina. Between Tirana and the area near the town of Vau i Dejes in northern Albania, a 400 kW double circuit transmission line exists.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Energoinvest which signed the contract with the state-owned Transmission System Operator on the southern 110 kW line has been the cause of a deadlock on the construction of an interconnection line between Albania and Kosovo since more than one year. Officially, the project was delayed and cancelled due to tender problems and disagreements between the managing Albanian state-owned company and the donor, a German development bank, over whether price or quality are more important in the project.
Two companies, Croatia’s Dalekovod and Bosnia’s Energo Invest, had submitted bids to build the interconnection line between Albania and Kosovo. Dalekovod’s bid was 36 million euros. Energo Invest said it could do it for 29 million euros. Dalekovod was selected as the winner over quality concerns on the lower bid by Energo, voiced by KfW, the financing development bank, Albanian media reported.
The deadlock came to an end after the Albanian government and Germany’s KfW agreed that the project’s first lot will be implemented by Croatia’s Dalekovod while the second lot will be retendered.
Following the delay for more than year of an energy project vital to Kosovo, a front-page article by a Kosovo newspaper accused Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in early 2012 of protecting the interests of a Bosnian company with alleged ties to controversial Serb investors. The accusation sparked a new row in Albania’s political scene.
The KfW-funded project linking Albania to Kosovo would complete Albania’s connection to its neighbors, after implementation of the 400 kw Tirana-Podgorica interconnection line, linking Albania to Montenegro. Kosovo on the other hand would depend on the link far more, as all its imports currently come from Serbia.
Last January, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Energoinvest won a Euro 49 million contract to build a 110 kW power line in southern Albania which will significantly improve the transmission capacities of existing. The project funded by the German government through the KfW Development Bank will minimize electricity losses and increase the security of supply as a precondition for improving power supply in the south of Albania. The project contributes to sustainable economic development in southern Albania. In particular, it will support the development of tourism sector with the aim of improving the living conditions of the population in the southern region of the country.