In a letter to Germany’s KfW, the Albanian Power Transmission Operator (OST) officially notifies the development bank that the Albanian government has withdrawn from the tender held in March 2011 and intends to re-holds the tender
TIRANA, Oct. 23 – After delaying the signing of the contract with the winner of an international tender to build an interconnection line between Albania and Kosovo over high cost concerns, the Albanian government seems to have decided to hold a new tender. In a letter to Germany’s KfW, the Albanian Power Transmission Operator (OST) officially notifies the development bank that the Albanian government has withdrawn from the tender held in March 2011 and intends to re-hold the tender, according to the letter obtained by Top Channel TV. KfW had previously advised the Albanian government not to cancel the tender and stick to three non-negotiable terms if it does not want to lose financing. KfW’s conditions over a possible repeat of the tender include the division of the tender in two parts with separate contracts for Albania and Kosovo, the following of the same high technical standards, and the recognition of the result of the tender.
“OST reconfirms its commitment that in the role of the project’s executing agency, on the Albanian side, shall accept the results that will come out from the new procurement process,” says Arben Ibroja, OST’s head in the letter to KfW.
OST also informs KfW that the Albanian Finance Ministry cannot participate in the new procurement process because of its obligation to minimize the public costs by maintaining the dominance of the lowest price.
Following the delay for more than year of an energy project vital to Kosovo, a front-page article by a Kosovo newspaper accused Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha earlier this year 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.
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.
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, linking Albania to Montenegro. Kosovo on the other hand would depend on the link far more, as all its imports currently come from Serbia.
