TIRANA, May 18 – China is urging companies to develop an industrial park outside Durres after a failed tender earlier this year. A government decision last April cut the expected industrial park area that will be offered for a symbolic 1 Euro for 99 years in return for investment and job creation to 101 hectares, down from an initial 500 hectares.
The Chinese ambassador to Tirana, Jiang Yu, said the Chinese government supports the participation of Chinese companies in the new tender.
“The construction of this economic development area is compatible with China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, international cooperation on overproduction as well as the “16+1″ cooperation mechanism,” said ambassador Yu in a meeting with Albanian officials on the introduction of the Spitalla technical and economic development area.
Investment in the area will mainly focus on industry, agriculture, trade and services.
“The Chinese government supports prestigious companies with potential in developing pragmatic cooperation and participating in Albania’s economic development,” said the ambassador.
“The Chinese embassy will continue working to connect the governments and companies of both countries and jointly work on developing the China-Albania cooperation platform, raising exchanges between China and Albania to the highest level,” she added.
Last February, the Albanian government turned down two bids by Chinese and Italian companies to build an industrial park outside Durres, the country’s second largest city, that was supposed to attract a billion dollar in investment and create dozens of thousands of jobs.
Located just outside Durres, the Spitalla park is a strategic site, close to the country’s biggest port of Durres, 30 km from the international airport and 37 km from Tirana.
The concession is part of the Albania 1 Euro initiative which had also been launched 2006 but proved unsuccessful in attracting foreign investors in these kinds of investments.
The Albanian government has also identified free economic zones in the southern coastal city of Vlora and the Koplik town in northern Albania near the Montenegro border.
In the Spitalla special economic zone, the government targets bringing technological, industrial companies with a big number of employees.
In its new law on technological and economic development zones, the Albanian government plans to offer a series of tax reductions to foreign investors, including exemption from the 50 percent profit tax on the first five years of their activity, exemption from the 20 percent VAT on imports and a series of other preferential rates and deductible expenses.
The recent airport and the Bankers Petroleum deals are on track to increase China’s presence as a foreign investor in Albania from almost zero to almost half a billion euros making China among the country’s top foreign investors at a time when the economic superpower is already emerging as the country’s second largest trading partner.
China Everbright has recently reached a deal to take over Albania’s sole international airport for an undisclosed amount, while Canada-based Bankers Petroleum has signed a preliminary deal with China’s Geo-Jade Petroleum Corporation to sell its major Albania assets and a newly acquired minor oil block in Hungary for a reported C$575 million (€392 mln).
