TIRANA, Jan. 7 – The start of 2020 was marked by another concession as the government announced a new private public partnership for the supervision of the technical control centers of road vehicles for third parties. Steps were also taken in efforts to make the vehicle technical control market more flexible in the first place, carried out by the SGS Automotive Albania, after having its contract extended for 16 months. With the new contract, the company which is in charge of the 10-year concession may continue to operate until the end of 2020 but if the government decides to sign a contract with the new company it will simply have to notify SGS three months in advance.
The establishment of a new PPP was made in accordance to a new article (234/1) stipulating that all technical control centers of road vehicles in the territory of the Republic of Albania should be supervised. “Supervision will be carried out by a specialized entity, which may be public or private. The requirements applicable to personnel employed by the supervisory body of technical control centers shall cover the following areas: a) technical competence; b) impartiality; c) qualification and training standards,” the article states.
In 2018, SGS Albania, which is responsible for providing compulsory road vehicle technical control services, disclosed a total revenue of 944 million lek, up by 5 percent on an annual basis. The concessionaire’s profit rate was 27 percent, from 23.5 percent a year earlier. In total, since winning the tender in 2009, SGS Albania reported a total revenue of 50 million euros in 2018, while profit was estimated at about 8.2 million euros before taxes.
