By ervin lisaku
TIRANA, Feb. 14 – Government has identified 1,280 public assets including strategic enterprises it intends to privatize by the end of this year, a move which the opposition Socialist Party has described as corruptive ahead of next May’s local elections.
Speaking at a task force meeting on privatizations, Prime Minister Sali Berisha said his Democratic Party-led ruling coalition was set to complete the full privatization process by this year in an effort to fight corruption and end inefficiency in the state-run enterprises.
The privatization list includes remaining state owned shares in strategic oil, and phone companies, small hydropower plants, military facilities and small and medium-sized enterprises, except for big hydropower plants and dams, schools, hospitals and public buildings and offices which will remain under state ownership.
“This process is of prime importance, first of all for the fight against corruption, which remains the criterion and the pillar of our economic reform. All these enterprises must pass into private hands management.”
The sale of the remaining important public assets such as oil producer Albpetrol, INSIG insurer, the remaining state-owned shares in fixed-line Albtelecom and power distribution operator would bring another 100 to 150 million euros this year, according to government plans in mid-2010.
“There is and there could be no envy that we should continue possessing them. I have to remind you that the private sector accounts for 84 percent of the country’s GDP and we should do everything to increase this percentage,” said Berisha, adding that the economy and finance ministries had contracted prestigious international consultants for their sale.
Assuring that the Albanian economy would gain a new impetus from the privatization wave this year, Berisha called on the Real Estate Registration Office and the Property Restitution and Compensation Agency to ease the process for the Privatization Directorate.
Reacting to government’s intentions, opposition leader Edi Rama described the privatization wave as a huge corruptive act ahead of the local elections and said that the robbery of public assets would be on top of the agenda of the next anti-government rally scheduled for February 18. He said that strategic enterprises such as Albpetrol, the Albanian Post and Insig had been intentionally left to degrade to be sold to people close to government. Rama also described the remaining state owned shares in electricity distributor OSSH (now CEZ Shperndarje), oil refiner ARMO, Albtelecom and one of two flour plants owning the market of special importance considering the monopoly conditions these companies currently operate.
Warning government to be careful with the privatization process, Rama said that the opposition Socialist Party would launch a transparency process on every privatized asset as soon as it comes to power and annul every corrupt privatization.
Last year, the Defence Ministry said it had identified 517 unused military properties for the privatization process. Defence Minister Arben Imami said a list of 150 other properties would be sent to the Economy Ministry. He said the ministry was interested in getting rid of the excess properties as soon as possible because of high management costs.
“The identification of properties not in use by the armed forces and their privatization is part of the integrated action plan we have drafted to free the armed forces not only of excess properties but also of excess materials so that they are not a burden in the everyday activity of land, naval and air forces,” said Imami.
Since joining NATO in 2009, the Albanian military forces have undergone transformation, lifting the compulsory 1-year military service and creating a small professional army. In a few cases, valuable assets will require the involvement of foreign companies, such as for giants like Albpetrol, INSIG or OSSH. In other cases the assets will be sold to Albanian businesses, government officials said earlier.
The privatization wave is also expected to boost foreign direct investment.
Foreign direct investment, one of the main sources of the economy’s growth representing a record 8.2 percent of the GDP in 2009, grew to 213 million euros during the third quarter of 2010, 39 million euros more compared to the second quarter data and 48 million euros more year-on-year.
In total, FDI during the first nine months of 2010 registered 563 million euros, down from 578 million euros during the same period in 2009.
