TIRANA, Jan. 5 – The Albanian government has postponed the announcement of the winner of the country’s first special economic zone, while it is still mulling over a bid by a Chinese company which emerged as the frontrunner.
In a tender held in late October 2015, China’s Zhejiang Haiteng Investment Co., Ltd and Bejing Dongrun Tongbao Technology Co. Ltd. bid to invest $1.5 billion in the Spitalla technical and economic development area and create 90,000 jobs. The winner is supposed to build and operate a technological and economic development zone on a 500-hectare area in Durres under a 99-year concession for a symbolic 1 Euro in return for investment and job creation.
Italian company RENDur4 is also reported to have submitted a bid but no details are made available on its financial offer.
An evaluation commission established by the economy ministry was expected to announce the winner in late November 2015.
Sources quoted by local Top Channel TV said the Economic Development Ministry has contacted accounting giant Deloitte to verify the documentation by the Chinese company.
A similar initiative in 2008 when the former Democratic-Party led government announced several special economic zones and industrial parks failed to attract any foreign investors because of the long-standing property issue and poor infrastructure.
Located just outside Durres, the Spitalla park is a strategic site, located 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, 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 tax exemptions and deductible expenses.
Investors will also be offered a one-stop shop on licences and have a customs and fiscal unit available at the special economic zone where they operate.
