Representatives of the former owners say government may not be able to sell some properties without solving pending property claims first.
TIRANA, June 21 – Albanians who have claims on properties taken over by Albania’s communist regime want a cut of the profits the government is scheduled to make through a major wave of state-owned property privatization.
Representatives of the former owners say government may not be able to sell some properties without solving pending property claims first.
Myrshit Vorpsi of the Association Property with Justice told the Albanian media that the government’s promise to give former owners first choice on buying the property is not enough and it’s unlikely to work.
He added former owners should be compensated and consulted on the properties that will be going up for sale.
Property disputes are a major problem in Albania, and a government compensation program has not gone far enough to solve them, former owners say, so many claims, even state-owned property, remain unsolved.
Earlier the year the government proposed a law that would not allow former owners to sue investors in property disputes but only the government instead. The proposal aims to give assurances to investors that the government would either compensate people for the claims or deal with them instead of the investor.
The former owners comments also come as Economy Minister Dritan Prifti said last week there will be about 2,000 state-owned properties sold in the next couple of years as part of a large wave of privatization aimed at diminishing the budget deficit.
Prifti said the sale of insurer INSIG and the remaining state-owned shares of Albtelecom and OSSH would allow the government to collect between 100 and 150 million euros.
“The next two years, 2010 and 2011, will be years of the major privatizations,” Prifti said. “We have chosen privatization as a reform strategy to diminish public property, especially when it is not efficient.”
Other public assets to be privatized include large enterprises like Albpetrol and a lot of real estate currently managed by the several government bodies, including the Defense Ministry.
