Govt to pay off construction companies

TIRANA, Jan. 12 – Construction companies which have not been paid yet for their finished public projects will finally be paid off by government. The decision was made on Tuesday in the first meeting of the parliamentary economy committee for this year.
Under the normative act, government will pay 5 billion lek to construction companies for public works they have carried out during the past two years, including infrastructure and services.
Few weeks ago, the Albanian Constructors Association warned dozens of companies operating in this crisis-hit sector were going bankrupt because of huge debts government owes them since 2008 for the public works they have carried out. Speaking to reporters, Maksim Muci, the executive director of this association, said government owed 10 billion lek (100 million dollars) to construction companies and had not foreseen funds for the payment of the outstanding debt in the 2011 budget. According to him, the situation is severe for many companies which borrowed from banks to complete the public projects and are facing difficulties paying off debts.