Accusations in a Kosovo newspaper that a vital project has been delayed on purpose by the Albanian government to protect controversial Serb investors spark political debate in Tirana.
Tirana Times
Tirana, April 19 – Following the delay for more than year of an energy project vital to Kosovo, a front-page article by a Kosovo newspaper has accused Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha of protecting the interests of a Bosnian company with alleged ties to controversial Serb investors. The accusation has sparked a new row in Albania’s political scene.
Officially, the project has been delayed due to tender problems and disagreements between the managing Albanian state-owned company and the donor, a German development bank, over whether price or quality are more important in the project.
Two companies, Croatia’s Dalekovod and Bosnia’s Energo Invest, had submitted bids to build the interconnection line between Albania and Kosovo. Dalekovod’s bid was 36 million euros. Energo Invest said it could do it for 29 million euros. Dalekovod was selected as the winner over quality concerns on the lower bid by Energo, voiced by KfW, the financing development bank, Albanian media reported.
The Albanian power transmission company, OST, has kept the contract with Dalekovod frozen, however, saying its selection violated Albanian tender laws which note the lower bid should win.
Serious allegations
But Kosovo newspaper Zeri says something more sinister was in place. It writes Prime Minister Berisha, through his son, had worked with controversial Serb businessmen in blocking a tender that would build an energy interlink between Albania and Kosovo, freeing Europe’s youngest country from having to import all its energy from Serbia, from which Kosovo split following a bloody war in 1999.
“Serb businessmen have paid large sums to high officials in Albania to block the construction of the power line,” the newspaper’s article notes.
The prime minister’s son, Shkelzen Berisha, vehemently denies the allegation, calling it slander. In a letter to Zeri, he says none of what the newspaper says is true, calling the allegations “invented.” The prime minister said the newspaper was doing the bidding of criminal elements, and added the allegations are entirely false.
But the newspaper has so far stuck to its guns, saying it has confirmation from multiple sources in its investigation. The Zeri daily newspaper says Berisha’s son Shkelzen had lunch in Vienna with his friend Damir Fazlic, a Bosnian businessman who has already had his fair share of limelight and accusations in the Albania. Joining them, according to Zeri, was well-known Serb businessman Vuk Hamovic. Consequently, it writes, Albanian authorities blocked the tender on the 400 kW energy link won by the Croatian company and funded by the German government through its KfW development bank.
Political row in Tirana
The accusations sparked a political row in Albania with the opposition calling for clarification from the government and Berisha himself. The Socialist Party asked the government to be very clear about why it delayed the project for more than a year. Socialist members of parliament quizzed ministers over the issue.
The Albanian energy ministry said the delays had come due to tender issues. It changed the first result of the international tender because the huge price differential and because the higher bid won.
“We were actually trying to prevent a potential corruptive affair,” Finance Minister Ridvan Bode told parliament, adding the government was simply trying to save money.
But Albanian media have reported KfW, the investor, was interested in quality, not simply price. The tender had a 70 percent emphasis on quality versus 30 percent for the price, bank representatives told Albanian media.
Albanian newspapers with ties to the opposition noted the second company, Bosnia’s Energo Invest has close ties to Fazlic, who has come under attack for corruptible affairs in the past.
Responding to the media storm, the prime minister held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss this issue among other things. Berisha said that the Albanian laws did not allow a higher price to win an international tender. He also directly accused the opposition Socialists of having links to “the mafia” and doing its bidding in bringing this story forward.
The opposition Socialist party leader Edi Rama grabbed the occasion to publicly call on Berisha to clear the way for the Croatian energy company to do its work and chided the prime minister for using words like “the mafia” when reputable institutions like KfW are involved or when accusing the Kosovar newspaper and the opposition, which had no links or interest at all to disrupt such a project.
Kosovo reactions
Berisha enjoys high popularity in Kosovo and Zeri’s editor, Astrit Gashi, said it was not easy to accuse Berisha there, but the newspaper had to publish its investigation when it found out.
In Kosovo, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci did not react to the news, only saying he would ask for more information before speaking.
Delays in the original project
Albania was supposed to start construction on the new interconnection early last year, and the project has been in the pipeline since 2010, when then Albanian deputy prime minister Ilir Meta said the project was very important to both Albania and Kosovo.
“The integration of the Kosovo and Albanian energy systems is a common priority because the electricity generation opportunities inAlbaniaand Kosovo are different but complementary,” saidMeta, adding that German-funded transmission line project would be a major investment and a powerful instrument to integrate both systems.
The KfW-funded project linking Albanian to Kosovo would complete Albania’s connection to its neighbors, after implementation of the 400 kw Tirana-Podgorica interconnection line, linkingAlbaniatoMontenegro. Kosovo on the other hand would depend on the link far more, as all its imports currently come from Serbia.
