Albania sued from GE for breaking contract on reconstruction of railway, press says

TIRANA, Sept. 20 – Albanian newspapers wrote Wednesday that the U.S. company General Electric Co. had sued Albania for breaking the contract on the reconstruction of a rail link between Tirana, the western port town of Durres and Tirana’s international airport, and had asked for a $20 million compensation. Last December Albanian ministers of transport, finance and economy wrote to GE saying Albania, considered one of Europe’s poorest countries, could not afford the terms of the commercial loan for the reconstruction of the rail road. In May 2005 Albania had approved a loan of some 75 million euro from Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV to reconstruct a 38-kilometer stretch of rail between Durres and Tirana. It also included a new six-kilometer link between Tirana and the airport. Tirana had signed a deal with General Electric Co. in September 2003 for the U.S.-based company to carry out the work. Rail reconstruction was not one of the country’s top priorities and investments in power generation were more important, Ruli said. The new government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha that came to power in September last year considered taking a considerable loan project premature, an idea also supported from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund _ major financiers of post-communist Albania since 1991.