The accumulated 55 million Euro debt which CEZ Shperndarje owes to KESH for unpaid energy has further aggravated KESH’s finances which last year faced a cut in wholesale electricity prices to CEZ
TIRANA, Dec. 14 – Lack of necessary rainfall to increase water levels in the country’s main hydropower plants has forced the government to approve an emergency loan for state-owned power utility KESH in order to avoid a possible energy crisis. The government decision approved this week authorizes KESH, the electricity producer and wholesale distributor, to take a 4.5 billion lek (around Euro 32 mln) loan to import electricity as hydro-electricity; since, the three main hydropower plants in the northern Drin cascade are at almost their minimum water levels due to prolonged drought.
“This decision is made following an unfavorable hydro situation caused by lack of rainfall and in full compliance to the government stance giving an absolute priority to uninterrupted power supply,” says the government in a statement.
Moreover, the accumulated 55 million Euro debt which CEZ Shperndarje owes to KESH for unpaid energy has further aggravated KESH’s finances, which last year faced a cut in wholesale electricity prices to CEZ.
Despite sporadic rainfall during the past ten days slightly rising water levels in the Fierze, Koman and Vau i Dejes hydropower plants (HPPs) in the Drin Cascade, water levels remain considerably below their optimal levels, preventing these HPPs from working at full capacity.
Struggling to import energy, KESH has also announced a tender to buy fuel for the newly built Vlora thermal power plant, whose cost is estimated to be higher than imported electricity if operated on diesel and not natural gas.
Under the new energy law, electricity produced by the current state-owned hydropower plants, which account for more than 90 percent of domestically produced electricity, will be used to supply only household consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises, excluding big consumers.
The changes make it compulsory for large energy consumers to be supplied with electricity by qualified suppliers other than CEZ Shperndarje at prices not regulated by the energy watchdog ERE to minimize rising costs for state-owned power utility KESH.
Durres-Kukes highway concession
Two years after its construction, the government has paved the way to award a concession contract for the maintenance and operation of the Durres-Kukes highway linking Albania to Kosovo. The decision, made at Wednesday’s government meeting, covers the Milot-Morine segment, the major part of the ‘Highway of Nation’ including the 5.5 km Rreshen- Kalimash tunnel.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport, which is the contracting authority for the concession, has already examined the proposed project and is expected to soon launch procedures for its implementation.
The study on the concession of the Durres-Kukes highway has been prepared by the IFC, the World Bank’s private sector arm.
The new highway linking Albania and Kosovo is expected to become the country’s first toll
road. Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced earlier this year that big companies will be hired to maintain major roads such as the Rreshen-Kalimash highway, admitting that the General Road Directorate lacks both human and material capacities to manage and maintain them. “As soon as the Shkembi i Kavajes-Rrogozhine segment finishes, even the Tirane-Fier and Tirane-Durres motorways will be granted further maintenance,” said the Prime Minister.
The Durres-Kukes motorway which became fully open to traffic only in October 2010 was built by Bechtel-Enka, a US-Turkish consortium. The 37-mile (61 km) four-lane highway stretches from central Albania to the Kosovo border.
Tax E-declaration made compulsory
The compulsory declaration of taxes and other tax documents will from now on only be accepted in an electronic version. The government decision makes e-declaration of taxes in tax institutions compulsory even for social security and health insurance contributions for employees as well as the change in the company’s number of employees, saving time and effort in this process.
“The implementation of the electronic declaration is an important measure that will raise the administration’s efficiency in minimizing tax evasion in the labor market and ease exchange of information between tax institutions and companies,” the government says.
